Last Monday, the New York Times ran a story about a group of scientists in the Netherlands who are trying to reinvent Polaroid film. It seemed like a quirky little project and I wondered how many people would be interested beyond the novelty. Alongside the story, the Times asked readers to send in some of their polaroids. They were probably expecting a few die-hard polaroid fanatics to submit a couple of photos. In the end, they received over 900!
Our amazement … soon gave way to grateful and respectful astonishment. The quality of the work was even more impressive than the quantity. Lens readers in this hemisphere, in Europe and in Asia showed an imaginative command of the medium. Their work exploited the idiosyncracies of the Polaroid formats, especially the SX-70 films: the square format, the slightly soft-edged rendition, the occasional defects from the developing process, a color palette that paradoxically seemed warmer than normal but also bent a bit toward blues and greens.
And here they are. It’s best to look at them in full screen mode. Amazing!
