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How the Polaroid Camera influenced the World of Photography?

How did the Polaroid contribute to Art form?

Andronopoulos, Panagiotis

10th Grade Personal Project

Mr.Pelidis

5/24/2011

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Outline Paper

I. Introduction to Polaroid camera and instant photographs

II. The Polaroid Revolution

A. Basic Terms of photography

B. The Polaroid Success

1. A Brief History of Polaroid

2. How does it work?

3. The Polaroid Effect

III. Polaroid Influences on Technology and Art

A. Technical Applications

B. When Land met Adams

IV. Introduction of the Polaroid to the Art World

A. André Kertész (1894-‐1985)

B. Andrei Tarkovsky

C. Walker Evans

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V. Conclusion

VI. Bibliography

I. INTRODUCTION

The Polaroid camera produces instant photographs. It was invented

in 1948 by Edwin H. Land, an American inventor and physicist who had

the idea of a camera that develops the film inside its cover. He

achieved to make the 1st instant camera named “Polaroid Land

camera” that could print a black& white photograph in 60 seconds.

It was a revolutionary product in terms of developing photographs,

because with the Land’s camera the photographers avoided the

process of the dark room and chemical development of the film made

by analog cameras.

This photographic process found numerous commercial, scientific

and military applications in a small amount of time. Furthermore it

influenced the art of photography and the art theory in general. Also

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the Polaroid photographs were a benchmark of the consumer society

of the 1970’s.

The last 10 years the Digital camera took the lead from Analog and

Polaroid cameras, which changed once again the prospective of the

photography. This development was a commercial of the Polaroid

Company, which In February 2008 announced the shut down of three

factories and the lay off 450 workers, because the sales of chemical

film dropped by 25% each year after 21st century.

After this fact, Fujifilm announced that they will be the supplier of

instant cameras in the United States. However, in October 2009,

Polaroid announced the come back of the instant film cameras, a year

after the production was to be stopped. These were very good news

for the Polaroid lovers.

II. THE POLAROID REVOLUTION

A. Basic Terms of Photography

• The word “photography” is a compound word that is originated by

the Greek language. “Photo” means light and “graph” means draw.

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Photography is the method of capturing images with the help of light

and then print them on a sensitive material.

So the result of these technical discoveries combined together is

called “Photography”.

• The first photograph was taken in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce.

that later was destroyed accidentaly. His photographs were produced

on a polished pewter plate covered with a petroleum derivative called

bitumen of Judea.

(The earliest surviving photograph captured in 1826 by Joseph

Nicéphore Niépce)

• After decades of the technical development of cameras and films,

Photography achieved a color edition that was world wide

commercialized in 20th century after World War II. This exact edition

we are mostly using today in photography, but the companies are

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always trying to achieve even better quality in a Digital way.

(Sally Mann color photograph)

• Photography was a very big achievement for art, sciences and society.

Photographs play a very big role in memories because with them we

can capture the moment and last it forever. This is very important for

everyone personal memories, but also photographs are a part of a

new way to describe history.

• So this means we have very many kinds of photography: Portraits,

family photographs, landscapes, architectural, food, advertising,

fashion, scientific, travel, aerial, wild life and of course art

photography.

• Art photography is a high-‐quality photographic print of pictures that

are created by the photographer according to his creative vision that

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provokes to the people who see it as individual thoughts and dreams.

Art photography is a kind magic like all of the fine arts.

• Photography isn’t only for personal memories and related persons

and friends. But it’s also a way to daydream.

• That’s why our modern society is full of images and photographs.

B. The Polaroid Success

Instant camera-‐Polaroid can capture and print a photo working also as

a camera and also as a dark room were the film is, and print the photo

immediately

1. A brief history of Polaroid.

• In 1929 Edwin Land decides to make his name by solving one of

science’s long-‐standing “unsolvable” problems – polarizing light

without needing a large crystal of an esoteric mineral.

• In 1947 instant photography introduced with a dramatic

presentation to The Optical Society in New York City on

February 21st.

• In 1956 the one millionth Polaroid camera produced.

• In 1962 the fourth millionth camera is produced.

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• In 1972 the SX-‐70 Polaroid model was introduced by the British

famous actor Sir Laurence Olivier, who produced instant colour

photographs.

• For the next three decades new models came out and the sales

were extremely high.

• In 2001 a few final cameras are brought into the marketplace.

• In 2008 Polaroid announces the end of the production and the

shutdown of three factories.

• In 2009 announces the come back after Fujifilm had the

monopoly in the United States.

(Famous Polaroid model SX-‐70)

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2. How does it work?

• The new SX-‐70 model changed photography into a unified

packet that contained negative, positive and processing

chemicals unlike previous models.

The camera had motor battery system that helped to eject

image print and then be developed instantly with the help of

light.

• The Polaroid camera has is plastic base coated with particles

of silver compound that are sensitive to light. The black and

white film has one silver layer, and color has three. The top

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layer is sensitive to blue light, the middle layer is sensitive to

green and the bottom layer is sensitive to red.

• The procedure of this is that chemical turns the exposed

particles into metallic silver. Film gets treated by three dye

developers containing dye couplers. The image is finally

printed, you see the final chemical reaction. The image is

already developed underneath and watch the acid layer clear

up the opacifiers in the reagent, and the image becomes

visible.

• The later models based on the success of SX-‐70 improved

film speed, exposure control and added automatic focus

systems.

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• The advantage of the instant camera is of course the instant

photograph, but there is also a disadvantage. That after

some years the colours become dull and after some decades

the photo dies.

3. The Polaroid Effect

• When the first Polaroid (Model 95) and the film typme 40 were

introduced in The Optical Society in New York (1947), there

were greatly accepted by consumer markets. The camera flew

of shelves and sold out in a few weeks. Consumers started to

pay up to 150$ (almost 1350$ today) to buy it. In the 1960’s

almost half of the American households possessed a Polaroid

camera.

• Over its 60 years, Polaroid camera has become the favourite

camera for artists, filmmakers and songwriters.

III. POLAROID INFLUENCES ON TECHNOLOGY AND ART

A. Technical Applications

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• Polaroid influences many areas of physics, especially in optics

and light analysis.

• Polarization, of electromagnetic radiations has many scientific

and commercial applications to the light waves.

• Has created series of sunglasses, polarized.

• A great application was associated with the visible wavelengths

of electromagnetic radiation, which stimulates the sensor cells

of the eye.

• Red-‐light has the longest wavelengths, while blue has the

shortest, with other colours such as orange, yellow, and green

between.

• Polaroid procedure had influenced the construction of scientific

cameras and helped the laboratory research and also has many

applications to the aerial photography used for military

purpose.

B. When Land met Adams

There was a great moment in the history of Photography and Polaroid

when the famous American photographer Ansel Adams were

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introduced to Edwin Land and between the inventor and the

photographer a friendship was born. In a letter referring to Land,

Adams wrote “I am tremendously exited about the actual use of the

camera in the field and studio. I think it promises to be one of the

greatest steps in the development of photography”. Ansel Adams

became the first artist consultant to the Polaroid Company. The

assignment was to test cameras, films and related photographic

paraphernalia, using them in the field and in the studio. Land found in

Adams proponent of the acceptance of the photography as a fine art

form…

So the meeting of these two men has introduced Polaroid camera not

only to the large audience of the consumers but also to the world of

art.

IV. INTRODUCTION OF THE POLAROID TO THE ART WORLD

Photography, Susan Sontag writes, entered the scene of action as a

nouveau riche a appeared to outreach a classic art, painting. For

Baudelaire photography was the ethical enemy of the painting. But in

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the end Photography became the liberator of painting. For the

photographers, Polaroid was the liberator of the moment…

The revolution of instant photography was an innovation that had an

immediate influence to amateur photographers as well ass to the

artists mainly because of its simplicity and speed. Polaroid inspirited

many classic and modern artists. Many art pieces of Andy Warhol

were created by Polaroid camera.

When Polaroid Company announced the intention of shutting down

the production of Polaroids there was a huge social reaction from its

fans. The Polaroid artists were very motivated and in 2009 an

exhibition presented a collection of visual arts pieces which all used

Polaroid photographs. In the French film “Amelie” a Polaroid camera

was used.

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A. André Kertész (1894-‐1985)

Was a great photographer from Budapest, Hungary who started his

career in Paris and lived for many years in New York.

Emotionally and physically exhausted after the death of his wife

Elizabeth, he was a man with no goals. His come back began when he

was inspired by a small glass statue. And he began to take

photographs again with his new Polaroid SX-‐70.

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B.Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-‐1986)

He was Russian filmmaker and theorist of filmmaking, well known for

the films: “Nostalgia“ , “Solaris” , “Stalker” and the “Mirror”. He had

passion with the Polaroid cameras, and used them to study the light

and the frame of the photograph.

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C.Walker Evans (1903-‐1975)

He was an American photographer known for his work documenting

the effects of the Great Depression. He was also seduced by Polaroid.

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V. CONCLUSION

If photographs convert the past in something we can consume, as

Susan Sontag said, the Polaroid photograph consumes the past

instantly. So Polaroid photographs were the major social event in the

capture of the moment. This particular qualification gave to the

amateurs an opportunity explore their inner self and talents so

photographs in generally and especially Polaroid changed the way we

see the world. It is also a way to create realities.

There was a very positive acceptance of the Polaroid from different

fields of art. Andy Warhols occupation with Polaroid introduced this

camera into the avant-‐guard of the artists in the 1970’s.

“ Two Italian artists, Antonio Strati and Sergio Tornaghi, made the first

Polaroid Emulsion Lifts that I had ever seen”, writes Barbana

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Hitchcock, director of the Polaroid Collections. “It was 1990. They

presented portfolios that held 8x10-‐ inch prints characterized by a

dimensionality I had never before witnessed. They explained how

they’d heated water in pots then submerged their developed

Polacolor prints in them for about five minutes. Then they gently

loosened the emulsion off the plastic base and slid it on to a piece of

watercolor paper, pushing and pulling the edges into place. Tornaghi’s

print of goldfish swimming in deep blue waters was transformed, the

image captured in the ragged-‐edged gel, appeared to float on the

surface of the paper, simulating the presence of water. With a delicate

touch, you could feel the bas-‐relief of the emulsion beneath your

fingers”.

“I have long been fascinated, writes Barbara Hitchcock, by the artists

imagination and technical exploration of Polaroid instant films used in

the pursuit of visualizing ideas”.

This expert view identify that Polaroid photographs haven’t yet met

their instant death.

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VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Steve Edwards, “Photography A Very Short Introduction”, Oxford University Press 2006

2. The Polaroid Book – Selections from the Polaroid collections of photography. essay by Barbara Hitchcock, publisher TASCHEN, 2004.

3. Erkan Blout, “Polaroid Dreams to Reality”, 1996. 4. Susan Sontag, “On Photography”, 1973. 5. Michael Frizot, A New History of Photography, Konemann,

1994. 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_camera#cite_note-‐1 7. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/467181/Polaroid-‐

Land-‐camera 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography 9. http://www.brighthub.com/multimedia/photography/articles/4

2796.aspx 10. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/329092/Edwin-‐

Herbert-‐Land 11. http://www.photomind.gr/forum/showthread.php?t=260&page

=1&s=329f4d0605e81b3de9733b4088c7c576 12. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71777&id=725383609