“White Oven on White” No.1 – Polaroid
Real Polaroids can never be replaced by some .99¢ iPhone app. But the way things are moving lately, it’s really quite a shame when you think about it. There’s a certain joy you get hearing an old Polaroid camera come alive with that buzzing sound as it spits out your newly exposed picture. No app can capture that. Also, now that 600 film is hard to come by, every picture you take is special. One of a kind. Real. Nobody out there is stockpiling, then rationing how many pictures they take on their iPhone. And sure being able to shoot without care is nice for somethings, but it definitely cheapens the experience.
Perhaps the saddest part in all this is that Polaroid themselves is part of the problem. They’re a company that for decades has made their own product obsolete, just to force people to buy a new camera that uses different film because they think they’ll make more money. Unfortunately, their constant short-term thinking will probably be the thing that finally kills them one day.