sundance

Visiting North Korea with a Polaroid

I have to admit the novelty of seeing photos snapped by Western photographers visiting North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated locales, has worn off. I would argue that some photographers now almost fetishize the society’s strict, barren and guarded nature. All those visits are tightly controlled by the state and its minders who restrict not only where the photographers can go, see, and who they talk to, but also the specific angle at which they take a photo. If taking a photo of Kim Jong Il, for example, you must do so standing directly in front of him.

But Reuters photographer Carlos Barria traveled to North Korea and broke this mold…

The Impossible Project

When Polaroid stopped production on their traditional line of cameras and film a few years back, die hard fans of the brand scrambled to get their hands on the last remaining packs of film from eBay and the like. But once those packs were used up or worse, expired, thousands of perfectly fine Polaroid cameras became obsolete, doomed to a dust-collecting fate on some out-of-reach shelf. (You can still buy expired film on Ebay, but for exorbitant prices, and no one can vouch for the quality of photos you’ll get.) In the meantime, the folks behind The Impossible Project were busy working to develop their own brand of instant film.

Life through the lens of a Polaroid

In 1979 Jamie Livingston, a “a New York-based photographer, film-maker and circus performer,” received a Polaroid camera. Soon after, he began a project where he snapped one Polaroid photo a day. This continued every day for 18 years until October 25, 1997 when he passed away from cancer. The photos were eventually organized by friends [...]

Polaroid: Instant Joy

With the convenience of digital media it’s only the rare purist or enthusiast who would bother with something as archaic as actual film or the time-consuming process of developing it, but there is one relic that has maintained its popularity since its commercial boom in the 60s: the Polaroid. This has everything to do with the fact that a Polaroid fulfills our need for both nostalgia and instant gratification in an experience that engages the consumer with the product in a way that a regular 35mm camera just doesn’t. From pulling the print from the negative sheet, shaking it and eagerly awaiting the results, the Polaroid became an interactive user experience.

FULL FRONTAL FASHION highlights

Illustration inspired by the Chris Benz Fall/Winter 2010 collection, by Danny Roberts Think of this as your FULL FRONTAL FASHION cliff notes. Get an up-close look at legendary photographer Bert Stern as his brand-new spring 2010 campaign for Club Monaco launches. Don’t miss the latest illustrations from artist Danny Roberts, inspired by New York Fashion [...]

Lady Gaga, creative director at Polaroid

Lady Gaga’s world dominance is not stopping as her world tour roles into Atlantic City this weekend. I am going to the show, 2 hours south of Manhtattan, because the 4 shows at Radio City sold out in record time and I don’t know anyone important enough to get me one. Sundance? Mr. Redford?

Portroids: signed polaroid portraits of the famous

Our society’s obsession with celebrity gossip has only become magnified and proliferated in the digital age as celebrity photos du jour appear seemingly simultaneously on countless gossip blogs and websites, where publication turnaround times often lap the mainstream gossip periodicals. Moreover, the rapid dissemination of a single photograph within this cultural echo chamber especially within [...]

Wallpaper’s Polaroids

Wallpaper magazine is celebrating Polaroid’s new lifeline. Polaroid not too long ago was about to go out of business. Inspired by quote from Edwin Land, Polaroid’s inventor, factory workers kept the production lines running and got the word out, hoping someone would save the iconic brand. That quote read “Don’t undertake a project unless it’s [...]