Polaroid's decision to stop making its instant-camera film may herald the end of analogue photography, writes Brian O'Connell.
It looks like instant-film photography is set to go the way of the VCR and cassette player and become another commercial casualty of the digital revolution. The last wheeze of analogue photography came last week, by way of an announcement from Polaroid headquarters that the company was effectively shutting down production of its film manufacturing lines. In the end, the instant photo was not instant or versatile enough, it seems, for the immediacy of the digital age.
Polaroid has now stopped making its instant film and expects supplies to run out completely in 2009. While the organisation stopped manufacturing commercial-type cameras almost two years ago, the slow realisation that film photography has had its day will come as little consolation to its global workforce.
Factories will close in Massachusetts, Mexico and the Netherlands, leaving a core staff of about 150 employees at Polaroid's headquarters in the US. At the height if its powers in the 1970s, the company employed more than 20,000 workers. The decision to stop production was "due to dramatic technological changes in the photographic industry," said a spokesperson, which will see the organisation "transitioning from its analogue instant-film business into new and innovative digital instant photography technologies".Hello and welcome to the 21st century then.
Yet, perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Polaroid's demise has been the pace at which digital technology has consumed the world of film photography. Having created its name in the years following the second World War, Polaroid's instant photography products went on to become a worldwide brand name. The key to its success was that film packs contained the chemicals for developing images inside the camera and photos emerged in less than a minute. In the 1970s in particular, a whole generation became fascinated by the ability to turn white squares of paper into cherished family memories, and everyone from Andy Warhol to Kermit the Frog endorsed the products.
By the 1990s, though, hostile takeover bids and some wayward investing meant the company was caught largely unawares by the advance of digital photography. Polaroid's overall revenue peaked in 1991 at nearly €2 billion, yet by 2001, the company was forced into bankruptcy, and eventually sold in 2005 for a meagre €280 million.
"The company was just too slow to adapt," says Barney Britton of Amateur Photography Magazine, "so inevitably the future now for film photography is that it will either become a niche market or phased out entirely as a going commercial concern".
In keeping with this, Kodak sought to increase the retail cost of its products and experts are now predicting that standard 35mm film will become more expensive as supplies begin to wane. Ironically, the announcement has sparked a sales rush on the Polaroid cameras and film, with enthusiasts rushing to snap up what's left before the supply runs out.
Some industry professionals, mainly in film and medicine, who use Polaroids to check light settings or test a shot, are now concerned that alternative technology will have to be found. For example, in medicine, dermatologists use Polaroid film printed with grid patterns to help measure shrinkage in scars over time. At present, digital imaging doesn't yet provide a reliable alternative, and many within these industries are now buying the remaining Polaroid products in bulk. Others, though, have already moved with the times. Tony Murphy, a lecturer in art and digital media at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), says that very few students are now taught traditional film photography methods.
"For the past three years, our teaching has been almost exclusively digital and the dark rooms in the college are rarely used now," he says, "The simple fact is that now students can carry a digital dark room under their arms, so to speak, in the form of a laptop. The whole process is more cost-effective."
The key to modern teaching methods, says Murphy, is applying traditional techniques to digital technology, so that students put some considered thought behind image-making. The digital methods taught in the college are very much in line with students' everyday experience.
"The students we have are coming from an era of technology and most of them hardly remember film at all," he says. "Their parents might have an instant camera in a drawer somewhere, but mostly these students have mobile phones with digital cameras. So they always have the ability to produce images."
Barry Keating, director of McSweeneys camera shop in Cork, agrees with Murphy's assessment. Three years ago, the store could expect to take in upwards of 500 rolls of film a day to be processed. Nowadays, that figure is down to 20 rolls, with the majority of customers preferring to take their pictures on a digital camera, and process them using stand-alone kiosks provided in the shop.
"Polaroid just weren't on the ball with either their film or instant-photo business," says Keating. "They didn't see the future and probably had tunnel-vision. Everyone in this business has had to diversify and fast. You can't stand still."
In the business for over 20 years, Keating remembers the first time he clapped eyes on a digital camera. "It was around 2000 and someone brought one into the shop. We were all looking at this thing, which the guy had paid £1,200 for. It had something like 600,000 pixels, took three photos and then it shut down! We all laughed at it, and never thought that this would be the future. But the industry thought otherwise and only a few years later we're now seeing the balance shift dramatically." The advantage of digital is not only the immediacy of the image taking process, but also the speed and minimal effort of processing.
At the sales desk, no customer purchases a Polaroid camera or hands in a roll of film while I'm present. Most are in and out in the seven minutes it takes to process their digital images. Some, including Rob Horgan from Mount Oval, use the stand-alone kiosks, which process automatically, or overnight for a smaller fee.
"It's probably two years since I last got an actual film developed," Horgan says, "I have no real nostalgia for it. The great benefit of digital is being able to edit as you go along and choose the ones you want to print. Before, you were often paying for bad prints and had no choice in the matter. I couldn't imagine going back to those days."
Polaroid began by making polarised sunglasses in the 1930s and introduced its first instant camera in 1948. The company moved to cartridge film in 1963 with its 100-series camera, which became a staple of professional photographers. Many of these photographers used Polaroid to take test photos, instantly checking lighting and composition before committing an image to negative.
Over the years Polaroid used several well-known names to promote their cameras, including actors Laurence Olivier and Vincent Price. Ali McGraw made her debut in a camera advert, while Kermit the Frog and the Muppets were the faces of the firm in the 1980s. Andy Warhol was an outspoken fan of Polaroid and used their cameras many times in his work.
The Massachusetts-based company is interested in licensing its film technology to others, but if that doesn't happen, then its film stock will likely run out in 2009.
Future plans include the release of a new photo printer this year, weighing just eight ounces, and printing card-sized pictures.
