How the Polaroid Camera Influenced the World of Photography
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Transcript of How the Polaroid Camera Influenced the World of Photography
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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
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