When the Polaroid camera appeared in 1948 it seemed nothing short of a miracle. The idea of taking a photograph and being able to see the developed print almost instantly was a modern marvel that completely changed our expectations of picture-taking. Conventional cameras used film that was usually sent to a processing laboratory to be developed. A week or so later, the prints were ready.
So in 1944 when the daughter of American inventor Edwin Land asked him why she couldn't see the photographs that he had just taken of her, his mind was set ticking. Land was famous for inventing the means to polarise light so that glare was removed. It was used for car headlamps so that oncoming traffic wasn't blinded, incorporated into aircraft windows and perhaps most famously into sunglasses. His mantra was to not undertake a project unless it was nearly impossible.
That square photograph with a white border became a signature of the stylish.
Over the following years it underwent continuous refinements which reduced the size of the body, removed the clumsy bellows that facilitated focusing and simplified the whole process even further. By 1963, colour film was introduced but still the user had to peel off the negative to reveal the finished photograph. What Land really wanted was a camera that would deliver the finished image straight into the user's hands in a single action. It was nearly impossible.
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However, in 1972 he accomplished it with the launch of the most famous Polaroid camera, the SX-70. It was an extremely sophisticated piece of kit with a high quality lens and fiddle-free self-developing film, wrapped up in a stylish folding body made of metal and inlaid leather which opened up like a pop-up book. Once you opened up the camera, one press of a button was all that was required for an image to emerge from the body and into your hands as if by magic on a simple square of photographic paper. That square photograph with a white border became a signature of the stylish.
When Land launched the camera to his shareholders he knew that the new film reproduced red and yellow colours better than the others. His solution was to import 10,000 tulips from Holland that were red on the outside and yellow on the inside which were given to the shareholders to photograph. Everyone remarked on the wonderful colour reproduction.
Early adopters not only needed a large pocket to carry the new foldaway camera, but also deep pockets to be able to afford the first models. Subsequent models were cheaper as the new technology became easier to use, which helped boost initially disappointing sales.
It was the perfect unity of high design and science, combining the latest electronic sensors for light and focus with a mess-free developing agent sandwiched into the actual film paper, the cartridge of which also included a battery pack. Designer superstars Charles and Ray Eames called the camera 'a system of novelties' which helped cement its reputation as the cleverest of designs.
The camera was popular with many artists including Andy Warhol, who used it for a series of instant portraits, and David Hockney, who created a series of landscape panoramas made up entirely of Polaroid prints. The speed and ease of the self-developing film was also a boon for photographers in the advertising and cinema world who could assess light, shade and composition on a set before they started shooting images with more conventional cameras. The camera also found fans with those whose home photography pursuits might not otherwise have passed the censorious eyes of commercial processing laboratories, giving the camera something of an adults-only reputation.
Digital camera technology killed Polaroid's fortunes in the early 1990s (and Land himself died in 1991), yet the camera continues to be rediscovered and appreciated by new audiences. Instant fame, you might say.
By Design looks at the places and things we imagine, build, use and occupy, explaining how creative ideas take tangible form through the design process.
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