Why Polaroid needs to hit the reset button

I have mixed feelings about the end of Polaroid manufacture. I think that creatives should have access to all forms of photography possible - instaphoto options other than digital included. Yet, a little part of me is happy about the end of the Polaroid era, because I think the break (and I am confident it’s just a break, since there are already groups such as The Impossible Project taking matters into their own hands) will do exactly what Polaroid needs: hit the reset button on its image.

The fact that polaroids are grouped into a category of “accessory” with the likes of fanny packs and Bose headphones is not productive for its status as an art object. This of-the-moment, trendy reputation really limits what Polaroids could be, because everyone chooses to categorize them as being “artsy” rather than “art.” IMHO, the photographers themselves play into this just as much as those labeling them this. The Polaroids that get the most internet circulation can be pretty gag worthy.

There’s something about Polaroids that inspires photographers to ignore all the conventions of photography, and snap whatever they’d like -most often, subjects with a ridiculous mix of “pretty” and “deep,” - a bare back in rumpled sheets, or a lone ballet slipper set nonchalantly (and nonesensically) on the snow. They are ridiculous, they are hit-or-miss, they are too easy to have the reputation they do.

I’ll stop my ranting now, but bottom line, I would love to see Polaroids ripped from the hipster, artsy category and just be another form of photograpy. Just as digital cameras users aren’t pigeonholed into a certain identity, neither should Polaroid users be.There should be Polaroid photographs that can be easily identified as having good/bad composition, being well/poorly lit, focused/unfocused. In essense, analyzed like other photographs.

See you soon, Polaroid, hope you come back a new man.

* The Impossible Project is backed by Urban Outfitters. Vomit.