Poladroid

November 13, 2008 | Filed Under Polaroid, harley | Leave a Comment 

Some of you (probably only 2 of you) might remember this post about Polaroid bowing out of the instant film industry and how deeply saddened I was to hear the bad news. Well…there has been a bit of a fresh wind blown in my sails.

I would like to introduce you to my latest brilliant discovery, Poladroid. I realize that there’s a good chance that some of you may have beaten me to this gem, however I must let the rest of you know how awesome this program is. Here are a few reasons why I {heart} Poladroid:

#one- IT’S FREE!!! (aka not 1 George Washington everytime you push the magic button)

#two- It is SUPER easy to use. Seriously you just drag and drop any of your jpeg’s onto the little
camera and it spits out a polaroid.

#three- you actually have to wait as the picture develops. (you can grab it and “shake it”, but that’s never really worked in real life despite what Outkast has told you)

#four- after you’ve done 10 images, you are done and you have to restart the program- just like the good old days when you had to take the huge metal case out of the camera and throw it away, but this time there’s no waste (somewhere Al Gore is grinning from ear to ear right now)

Now I will be the first to admit that it’s not the same as having the real thing in your hands, but it’s close enough for you to fall in love with. I’ve been playing around with it (a lot) for a few days. I haven’t printed anything yet, but it exportss a fairly decent hi-res file, so it probably looks pretty good printed out. I should also point out that it’s only available for Mac currently, but I’m pretty sure a PC version is in the works.

Needless to say, you should go to the website and download your copy NOW!

Here are of few of my images that have passed through the virtual Polaroid camera-

My black/white business card design turned out kind of cool

Farewell my love…

February 19, 2008 | Filed Under Holga, Polaroid | Leave a Comment 

I heard the bad news Friday evening as Sarah and I were hanging out with the local news playing in the background. The two words “Polaroid” and “going out of business” immediately captured all of my attention. Being the local Greenville news, the story was very brief and few details were given.

I did some research courtesy of the Boston Globe and found out that the two factories responsible for producing instant film were shutting down and that they will only produce enough film to last through the rest of the year according to their predictions.

I will be a little transparent here and admit that tears welled up in my eyes and I was heartbroken as I begin to process the info. I know it’s ridiculous to get so emotional about something like this, but oh well…I got caught up in the moment.

I am not one of “those photographers” that despises digital photography and believes that film is the only “true form of photography.” I do, however, love shooting film, especially Polaroid, for fun and my own artistic enjoyment. Shooting instant film gives me a sense of nostalgia and also gets my creative juices flowing. There is something thrilling about shooting a Polaroid and getting a pure photo with a vintage feel instantly (or 90 seconds, tops). Most photographs of my parents are Polaroids, and it is amazing that a Polaroid I shoot today looks just like a shot of my mother at age 7 standing in front of a late 50′s Chevrolet.

I’m not real sure why I felt compelled to post on this topic. I suppose I wanted to be the bearer of bad news, but also I wanted to urge you to grab your Polaroid camera or dust off that Polaroid Back and start living again. I plan to shoot more Polaroids and savor the final moments of instant film bliss.

Here are some of my favs from the past few years thanks to my Holgaroid…