End of life… Polaroid
So 1st quarter 2009 will be the end of an era in instant gratification photography (ala film)… Polaroid is discontinuing this remarkable little product and selling off the remaining inventory of film and cameras. Considering how bad their previous line of digital cameras are I am not sure why they thought it was a good idea to discontinue this niche product line completely and rely on digital cameras… However, consumers aren’t remaining silent – a Facebook group dubbed “Save the Polaroids” cropped up and it’s growing in number.
Hopefully someone will pick up the instant film license and reinvigorate this great film medium for future designers and photographers. Who hasn’t taken a shot and peeled back the film to transfer the image to something else!? With luck excess inventory might still be available from niche producers … similar to how Gocco was handed off after the parent company discontinued that series of personal screenprinters.
Fear not nostalgia buff… If you’re interested integrating Polaroid images in your digital world there is a host of flickr, wordpress and flash resources available. For a great example of open source flash Polaroid gallery (creative commons license) check out Polaroid Gallery v.1.0.1 from Norwegian designer Christopher Einarsrud.
PC World’s look at many of the great Polaroid commercials over the years. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw_d5o6ocEU
This post is tagged: actionscript, art+design, flickr, innovation