Digital cameras and smartphones are great. But photo prints that develop before your eyes? That was downright magical in 1972—and still meaningful today.
A new wave of backward-looking, forward-thinking innovators is proving that opening our minds to the past isn’t just healthy for the future – it’s good for the soul.
We spoke to one of the founders of Retrospekt about the company's work restoring vintage technology and took a reclaimed 1970s-era Polaroid SX-70 for a test drive.
Film isn't just for old fogies and hipsters—lots of people enjoy snapping shots with a modern-day instant camera, just like our parents did with the Polaroids of yesteryear. Here are our favorites.
A new book showcases the continued signifiance of Polaroid
A new book is bringing together Polaroids by contemporary image makers alongside historic photos of enthusiasts including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring
300 Polaroids by David Lekach
Polaroid was founded by Edwin Land in 1937
, and a decade later its first instant photography product reached the world – a game-changing piece of technology that proposed a convenient alternative to the time-consuming and complicated film processing techniques of the time.
“This new instant camera was revolutionary: bringing the magic of creating a photograph right in front of your eyes to the world for the first time,” writes Polaroid CEO Oskar Smolokowski in the introduction to a new book, Polaroid Now: The History and Future of Polaroid Photography. “It was a product right at the intersection of art and science, powered by incredibly complex chemistry and enabling a world of creativity.”