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Instant: The Story of Polaroid
"Instant photography at the push of a button!" During the 1960s and '70s, Polaroid was the coolest technology company on earth. Like Apple, it was an innovation machine that cranked out one must-have product after another. Led by its own visionary genius founder, Edwin Land, Polaroid grew from a 1937 garage start-up into a billion-dollar pop-culture phenomenon. Instant tells the remarkable tale of Land's one-of-a-kind invention-from Polaroid's first instant camera to hit the market in 1948, to its meteoric rise in popularity and adoption by artists such as Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, and Chuck Close, to the company's dramatic decline into bankruptcy in the late '90s and its unlikely resurrection in the digital age. Instant is both an inspiring tale of American ingenuity and a cautionary business tale about the perils of companies that lose their creative edge.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published September 10, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
December 12, 2012
This book was a bit disappointing to me. Of course, the fact that I spent my entire work career at Polaroid may have something to do with my take on the company and why I feel Bonanos didn't get it quite right. I joined Polaroid in 1965 and was not a part of the early years, which the author covers quite interestingly. Where he fails to win my praise is in the two areas. First, he gives too much credit - and spends too much time - talking about the affect Polaroid had on the arts. True, Andy Warhol did use a Polaroid, but I think that should be a footnote and not a main focus. The other part, and where he really dropped the print coater is in describing the decline of the company. In the early eighties I was a forecaster for film sales and we showed clearly that over time film sales would declined to the point of insustainability. No one believed us, even when we showed that out estimates were accurate year after year within three percent. I finally had to move to a different job within the company because the VP's said I was always too negative. People refused to believe that Polaroid prints could be supplanted by something else. I saw my first digital photo print about 1982. I thought it was better than a Polaroid and that was the very birth of digital. The general consensus was that digital would never be as good a Polaroid. Even when HP was printing 8x10 glossies for about fifty cents, the powers that be thought we could compete by offering a printer that would spit out a Polaroid print for about a dollar. Needless to say, we ended up with warehouses full of the ridiculous printer. I could go on and on. Digital photography and terrible management killed a company that could have been a player in digital printing. I have no regrets. Polaroid was a great company to work for and I did very well there. I just wish that a little more blame was handed out and less gushing over the celebrity photographers who used the product. The story of Polaroid should be a case study for business majors and not a love object for the nostalgic.
October 2, 2012
From the book cover:
Instant tells the remarkable tale of Edwin Land's one-of-a-kind invention - from Polaroid's first instant camera to hit the market in 1948 to its meteoric rise in popularity and adoption by artists such as Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, and Chuck Close, to the company's dramatic decline into bankruptcy in the late '90s and its unlikely resurrection in the digital age. Instant is both an inspiring tale of American ingenuity and a cautionary business tale about the perils of companies that lose their creative edge.
When I was at BEA in June, this was one of the books on my "want" list. I've been fascinated by photography for many years, own about 8 cameras, took a photography course in college, and stare lovingly at my Hasselblad, who patiently waits on my bookshelf for another outing. Last Christmas I asked for a Fuji Instax camera, recalling the days my grandmother and grandfather would show me the "magic" of the Polaroid film.
What Christopher Bonanos does with Polaroid's history is a bit magical itself, briefly discussing the history of film photography up to Eastman's camera "marketed with the slogan 'You push the button, we do the rest,' and the little roll of celluloid inside it built an empire" before delving into Polaroid and its creativity.
Even knowing the outcome of Polaroid's business practices, I was tense reading about the ever-evolving world of film cameras. Bonanos lends suspense to the creative process, showing that "the next big thing" actually has to be discovered about four or five years before production if a company wants to stay ahead. Land was proud of his labs, making the rounds and checking out what his team produced. Bonanos tells the story of Howard Rogers and Land's request that he start thinking about color instant film in the late 40s. Two years later, Rogers approached him, and in 1965, Land said, "My point is that we created an environment where a man was expected to sit and think for two years." Eventually, without a creative leader who demanded elegant, complicated, innovative creations from his staff, Polaroid began its downward spiral.
Bonanos also emphasizes Polaroid's (and Land's) devotion to art photography, an aspect of the book I loved, considering I had no idea how instrumental Ansel Adams was in the development of better and better film and focus: "Whenever Polaroid introduced a new product line, Adams trooped off to the mountains or the desert to try it out. Back came reports packed with detail, containing rows of photos at varying exposures or apertures. Eventually he filed more than 3,000 of these memoranda."
Andre Kertesz and Walker Evans got in on the instant trend as well, with Evans saying near the end of his life: "Nobody should touch a Polaroid until he's over sixty. You should first do all that work...It reduces everything to your brains and taste." As Bonanos points out, "[h]e, fortunately, had both." By working with these artists and others, Polaroid built up a collection of tens of thousands of photos, a collection I'd give anything to see.
Land's devotion to instant photography not just as product but as an art form is fascinating and reminiscent of Steve Jobs and his own demand for beauty. This is a business model that is dangerous but sexy in its forethought. Because, as Bonanos emphasizes toward the end of the book, these are men who aren't making the products people want. They're making the products people don't know they want. There's genius there, and that's what drives businesses like Polaroid, and frankly it's why there are still so many aficionados today, which Bonanos discusses in the last chapter of Instant.
I remember a few years ago the mad dash for Polaroid films, and people were making a killing on ebay, even with expired packs. Why? Polaroid is an icon, and even all these many years later, people appreciate the thought behind the first Polaroid, the question Land's daughter supposedly asked him in 1943: "Why can't I see the pictures now?"
Instant tells the remarkable tale of Edwin Land's one-of-a-kind invention - from Polaroid's first instant camera to hit the market in 1948 to its meteoric rise in popularity and adoption by artists such as Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, and Chuck Close, to the company's dramatic decline into bankruptcy in the late '90s and its unlikely resurrection in the digital age. Instant is both an inspiring tale of American ingenuity and a cautionary business tale about the perils of companies that lose their creative edge.
When I was at BEA in June, this was one of the books on my "want" list. I've been fascinated by photography for many years, own about 8 cameras, took a photography course in college, and stare lovingly at my Hasselblad, who patiently waits on my bookshelf for another outing. Last Christmas I asked for a Fuji Instax camera, recalling the days my grandmother and grandfather would show me the "magic" of the Polaroid film.
What Christopher Bonanos does with Polaroid's history is a bit magical itself, briefly discussing the history of film photography up to Eastman's camera "marketed with the slogan 'You push the button, we do the rest,' and the little roll of celluloid inside it built an empire" before delving into Polaroid and its creativity.
Even knowing the outcome of Polaroid's business practices, I was tense reading about the ever-evolving world of film cameras. Bonanos lends suspense to the creative process, showing that "the next big thing" actually has to be discovered about four or five years before production if a company wants to stay ahead. Land was proud of his labs, making the rounds and checking out what his team produced. Bonanos tells the story of Howard Rogers and Land's request that he start thinking about color instant film in the late 40s. Two years later, Rogers approached him, and in 1965, Land said, "My point is that we created an environment where a man was expected to sit and think for two years." Eventually, without a creative leader who demanded elegant, complicated, innovative creations from his staff, Polaroid began its downward spiral.
Bonanos also emphasizes Polaroid's (and Land's) devotion to art photography, an aspect of the book I loved, considering I had no idea how instrumental Ansel Adams was in the development of better and better film and focus: "Whenever Polaroid introduced a new product line, Adams trooped off to the mountains or the desert to try it out. Back came reports packed with detail, containing rows of photos at varying exposures or apertures. Eventually he filed more than 3,000 of these memoranda."
Andre Kertesz and Walker Evans got in on the instant trend as well, with Evans saying near the end of his life: "Nobody should touch a Polaroid until he's over sixty. You should first do all that work...It reduces everything to your brains and taste." As Bonanos points out, "[h]e, fortunately, had both." By working with these artists and others, Polaroid built up a collection of tens of thousands of photos, a collection I'd give anything to see.
Land's devotion to instant photography not just as product but as an art form is fascinating and reminiscent of Steve Jobs and his own demand for beauty. This is a business model that is dangerous but sexy in its forethought. Because, as Bonanos emphasizes toward the end of the book, these are men who aren't making the products people want. They're making the products people don't know they want. There's genius there, and that's what drives businesses like Polaroid, and frankly it's why there are still so many aficionados today, which Bonanos discusses in the last chapter of Instant.
I remember a few years ago the mad dash for Polaroid films, and people were making a killing on ebay, even with expired packs. Why? Polaroid is an icon, and even all these many years later, people appreciate the thought behind the first Polaroid, the question Land's daughter supposedly asked him in 1943: "Why can't I see the pictures now?"
December 24, 2018
I was inspired to read this after my recent rediscovery of Polaroid photography. The new Polaroid Originals range of film and cameras has seen it all revived a bit, and it's interesting to read how everything came about.
Christopher Bonanos is a well-known Polaroid enthusiast, and he's written an accessible, well-illustrated book about how Edwin Land came to invent instant photography. If you want a lot of detail, you might be disappointed, but for most people, including myself, it contains just enough to keep the book flowing along at a decent pace, without getting stale or boring. Essentially, Land's vision was for an easy-to-use, single-step process that came to fruition with the amazing SX-70 in 1972 - up until then, Polaroid photography was messy and complicated. Unfortunately, the SX-70 is a rare and expensive beast, and just about every camera made since is pretty cheap and nasty, which is one of the factors behind Polaroid's problems and eventual demise. The book describes how that came about, and how eventually the final film factory was rescued, and a modest revival came about.
The book discusses Edwin Land's involvement in the company in some detail, but it isn't, in any sense, a Land biography - he was, by all accounts, a very private person, and so bit of a mystery. It's also not detailed enough to be a business or science textbook. But...to an enthusiast like me, who has an interest in how the instant camera developed and evolved, it's an interesting and quick read that I'm sure I'll go back to, with plenty of interesting illustrations and stories. Nicely presented and well told, although now that the Impossible Project has evolved into Polaroid Originals and launched a new camera range, it's probably due for an updated edition. The story continues...
Christopher Bonanos is a well-known Polaroid enthusiast, and he's written an accessible, well-illustrated book about how Edwin Land came to invent instant photography. If you want a lot of detail, you might be disappointed, but for most people, including myself, it contains just enough to keep the book flowing along at a decent pace, without getting stale or boring. Essentially, Land's vision was for an easy-to-use, single-step process that came to fruition with the amazing SX-70 in 1972 - up until then, Polaroid photography was messy and complicated. Unfortunately, the SX-70 is a rare and expensive beast, and just about every camera made since is pretty cheap and nasty, which is one of the factors behind Polaroid's problems and eventual demise. The book describes how that came about, and how eventually the final film factory was rescued, and a modest revival came about.
The book discusses Edwin Land's involvement in the company in some detail, but it isn't, in any sense, a Land biography - he was, by all accounts, a very private person, and so bit of a mystery. It's also not detailed enough to be a business or science textbook. But...to an enthusiast like me, who has an interest in how the instant camera developed and evolved, it's an interesting and quick read that I'm sure I'll go back to, with plenty of interesting illustrations and stories. Nicely presented and well told, although now that the Impossible Project has evolved into Polaroid Originals and launched a new camera range, it's probably due for an updated edition. The story continues...
November 19, 2012
I was surprised by how quickly this read, but also disappointed with it. It started fast, and then...petered out.
March 23, 2019
A very comprehensive and informative book about the story of Polaroid with lots of entertaining anecdotes and polaroid pictures.
May 1, 2019
A pretty short overview of Polaroid's history - full of interesting nuggets about Edwin Land, the company's competition with Kodak, and its eventual decline and demise.
March 1, 2025
幾年前在一間個性商店閒晃時看到一個很精緻的卡片盒，粉紅色的包裝上印著Prague, Polaroid，打開裡面有20張拍立得底片大小的明信片，飽滿的色調又些微失真，相片包含了城堡、電車、查理斯橋...若隱若現，完美捕捉迷霧布拉格的朦朧美。有一段時間在露天買了不少精美的明信片，這些卡片好漂亮，題材千變萬化，買了好幾盒主題風格，很微妙，下雨的窗邊欣賞特別有感觸。
去年在雪梨的Broadway shopping mall打發時間，往二樓的手扶梯旁有大片的動態廣告牆，被拍立得的廣告深深吸引，按下快門短短幾秒就能收穫片刻的永恆，看著身旁的她，好想趕快購入一台，拍下悸動的瞬間，實體化的相片還是更能打動人心。數位相片成千上萬，不過成了Instagram資料庫的0與1。
*
本來依稀記得拍立得這個品牌已成過去式，好多年前不是跟柯達一樣已經申請破產了嗎? 怎麼現在還存在呢? 那時候很多人搶著庫存最後一批底片，因為停產後，拍立得將成為歷史名詞，陪伴好幾代攝影人，人們對它有懷有強烈的情感，念念不忘的一群人在最後一刻拯救了拍立得，讓它延續至今。
知道了結局，那故事的開頭是什麼呢?
*
蘭德(Land)是一位被遺忘的天才，出生於1910年，他是一個天生的發明家，二十初頭就已經握有多項專利(例如:偏光板)，天馬行空的幻想，在他的巧手之下總能成為現實。他特別熱衷於光學，與人成立了一間公司，在二次大戰時成為美軍的光學儀器供應商，業績蒸蒸日上。某一天，據說當蘭德和孫女在海邊玩耍時，他們要一起拍照，孫女一句天真無邪的疑問:[為什麼照相完不能馬上看到照片呢?] 這一句話啟發了蘭德，他想要打造出一台能夠立刻將相片印出來的相機，而經過一番努力，他竟然成功了!
相片在1888年誕生後，拍照是一件稀奇的玩意兒，通常是專業人士才能觸碰，必須有昂貴的儀器，拍照完還要有暗房才能把照片弄出來。50、60年代，柯達佔據了大部分攝影的市場，柯達提供了沖洗照片最快速的服務，你拍完照把底片寄給他們，等到他們把成品寄回來已經過了幾個月。蘭德希望改變這個局面，讓拍照簡單快速，讓這個技術普及化。
這本書就是在講拍立得如何改變了人類的攝影史。
蘭德是拍立得的靈魂，他是完美主義和實踐主義的最佳代表，他成功營造一個追求創新的企業精神，鼓勵員工嘗試五花八門的奇思異想，例如有一個顧問兩年無所事事，東晃西晃，公司照樣支薪，兩年後他把靈感付出實現，為公司帶來極大的獲益。我們能夠從書中學習一間企業如何不斷追求創新，大膽定義新型態的商業模式。當然，時代的劇變最終讓拍立得的營運失焦了，又是一個科技的日新月異，顛覆了傳統的案例。
拍立得的攝影哲學，深刻反映在產品設計上，雖然產品並非完美無瑕，但它在整個文化界掀起不少的波瀾，很多藝術家(例如安迪沃荷)成為拍立得的死忠粉絲，用這款相機拍出流傳後世的攝影傑作。這本書用彩色印刷，包含了很多精緻的圖片，讓閱讀的過程愈發多采多姿~
此外讀者也能預期在書中學習關於攝影、色彩學、光學...的知識。類比年代的攝影師，使用哪些配備，如何捕捉光影，巧妙應用物理光學，拍出一幅幅視覺上的藝術品。
當然，提到相機，少了柯達這間公司就不完整了，柯達和拍立得之間的恩怨情仇，儼然二十世紀攝影產業的縮影。閱讀企業傳記的額外好處就是能夠順便了解其產業的歷史發展和未來走向。
如果你對拍照有興趣，或單純想讀一些新鮮的題材，本書是個優質的選擇。
去年在雪梨的Broadway shopping mall打發時間，往二樓的手扶梯旁有大片的動態廣告牆，被拍立得的廣告深深吸引，按下快門短短幾秒就能收穫片刻的永恆，看著身旁的她，好想趕快購入一台，拍下悸動的瞬間，實體化的相片還是更能打動人心。數位相片成千上萬，不過成了Instagram資料庫的0與1。
*
本來依稀記得拍立得這個品牌已成過去式，好多年前不是跟柯達一樣已經申請破產了嗎? 怎麼現在還存在呢? 那時候很多人搶著庫存最後一批底片，因為停產後，拍立得將成為歷史名詞，陪伴好幾代攝影人，人們對它有懷有強烈的情感，念念不忘的一群人在最後一刻拯救了拍立得，讓它延續至今。
知道了結局，那故事的開頭是什麼呢?
*
蘭德(Land)是一位被遺忘的天才，出生於1910年，他是一個天生的發明家，二十初頭就已經握有多項專利(例如:偏光板)，天馬行空的幻想，在他的巧手之下總能成為現實。他特別熱衷於光學，與人成立了一間公司，在二次大戰時成為美軍的光學儀器供應商，業績蒸蒸日上。某一天，據說當蘭德和孫女在海邊玩耍時，他們要一起拍照，孫女一句天真無邪的疑問:[為什麼照相完不能馬上看到照片呢?] 這一句話啟發了蘭德，他想要打造出一台能夠立刻將相片印出來的相機，而經過一番努力，他竟然成功了!
相片在1888年誕生後，拍照是一件稀奇的玩意兒，通常是專業人士才能觸碰，必須有昂貴的儀器，拍照完還要有暗房才能把照片弄出來。50、60年代，柯達佔據了大部分攝影的市場，柯達提供了沖洗照片最快速的服務，你拍完照把底片寄給他們，等到他們把成品寄回來已經過了幾個月。蘭德希望改變這個局面，讓拍照簡單快速，讓這個技術普及化。
這本書就是在講拍立得如何改變了人類的攝影史。
蘭德是拍立得的靈魂，他是完美主義和實踐主義的最佳代表，他成功營造一個追求創新的企業精神，鼓勵員工嘗試五花八門的奇思異想，例如有一個顧問兩年無所事事，東晃西晃，公司照樣支薪，兩年後他把靈感付出實現，為公司帶來極大的獲益。我們能夠從書中學習一間企業如何不斷追求創新，大膽定義新型態的商業模式。當然，時代的劇變最終讓拍立得的營運失焦了，又是一個科技的日新月異，顛覆了傳統的案例。
拍立得的攝影哲學，深刻反映在產品設計上，雖然產品並非完美無瑕，但它在整個文化界掀起不少的波瀾，很多藝術家(例如安迪沃荷)成為拍立得的死忠粉絲，用這款相機拍出流傳後世的攝影傑作。這本書用彩色印刷，包含了很多精緻的圖片，讓閱讀的過程愈發多采多姿~
此外讀者也能預期在書中學習關於攝影、色彩學、光學...的知識。類比年代的攝影師，使用哪些配備，如何捕捉光影，巧妙應用物理光學，拍出一幅幅視覺上的藝術品。
當然，提到相機，少了柯達這間公司就不完整了，柯達和拍立得之間的恩怨情仇，儼然二十世紀攝影產業的縮影。閱讀企業傳記的額外好處就是能夠順便了解其產業的歷史發展和未來走向。
如果你對拍照有興趣，或單純想讀一些新鮮的題材，本書是個優質的選擇。
June 25, 2022
I can remember, as a young child, my father taking my picture with the model 35. He would the pull the photo out of the camera, peel off the backing and then apply a sealer. I even remember the chemical smell of the sealer.
The white-framed photos are iconic.
Christopher Bonanos does a good job detailing the story of the man behind the company, the rise and fall...and rise again of Polaroid: the people, the business, the technology and the competition. I enjoyed reading the history behind the name.
The white-framed photos are iconic.
Christopher Bonanos does a good job detailing the story of the man behind the company, the rise and fall...and rise again of Polaroid: the people, the business, the technology and the competition. I enjoyed reading the history behind the name.
November 19, 2012
This book brought me back to all those times the Polaroid camera came out when we were growing up and made me smile as I remembered my dad's delight in the instant results of the picture taking. It is a fascinating story of a company dominated by its founder and the amazing things he and it accomplished because of the go for it culture he established. The stories of the early inventions were fascinating such as the Polaroid Sight-Conditioning train window.
After Land left the company, the stories of the products that could have been illustrate how tentative a company's success is.
"By the mid-1980's, Polaroid, in a joint venture with Philips, was on the verge of making a digital sensor that produced a 1.2-megapixel image, and had the data-compression algorithms to go with it. By 1987, talk was afoot of taking it into production. The company's marketing talk subtly shifted during these years, too"'the leader in instant photography' became 'the leader in instant imaging.'
It's heartbreaking to see this from two decades' distance, because Polaroid had once again created something that would have astounded consumers. Unfortunately, it would also render everything else the company made obsolete, and that spooked people. 'Polaroid could make the digital transition,'says Sheldon Buckler, recounting the prevailing attitude. 'But... there's no money there, because there's no film. And there'd be no competitive advantage on the hardware side in the consumer arena, because there's Nikon and Sony and Canon and a host of others.'
It's clear now (and was anything but obvious, back then) what the best call would've been. If Polaroid had played its hand a little differently, the computer on your desk wouldn't be attached to a Hewlett-Packard inkjet printer; you'd have a nifty little PolaJet, printing photos on high-quality, high-profit-margin Polaroid paper. The margin on Polajet refill cartridges would be similarly wide, and you'd buy them for years - that is, until Polaroid rolled out the next-generation printer, whereupon you'd run out and upgrade because it was just so cool. It'd probably be wireless,too."
After Land left the company, the stories of the products that could have been illustrate how tentative a company's success is.
"By the mid-1980's, Polaroid, in a joint venture with Philips, was on the verge of making a digital sensor that produced a 1.2-megapixel image, and had the data-compression algorithms to go with it. By 1987, talk was afoot of taking it into production. The company's marketing talk subtly shifted during these years, too"'the leader in instant photography' became 'the leader in instant imaging.'
It's heartbreaking to see this from two decades' distance, because Polaroid had once again created something that would have astounded consumers. Unfortunately, it would also render everything else the company made obsolete, and that spooked people. 'Polaroid could make the digital transition,'says Sheldon Buckler, recounting the prevailing attitude. 'But... there's no money there, because there's no film. And there'd be no competitive advantage on the hardware side in the consumer arena, because there's Nikon and Sony and Canon and a host of others.'
It's clear now (and was anything but obvious, back then) what the best call would've been. If Polaroid had played its hand a little differently, the computer on your desk wouldn't be attached to a Hewlett-Packard inkjet printer; you'd have a nifty little PolaJet, printing photos on high-quality, high-profit-margin Polaroid paper. The margin on Polajet refill cartridges would be similarly wide, and you'd buy them for years - that is, until Polaroid rolled out the next-generation printer, whereupon you'd run out and upgrade because it was just so cool. It'd probably be wireless,too."
March 16, 2015
Story of Polaroid covers the rise and fall of an innovation company. Polaroid was started by an creative and controlling leader named Land. Polaroid started in the 1930s making polarizing lens. WWII came and they grew dramatically making sun-glasses/goggles, bomb sites, and working on several special projects - from a dozen employees to over 2000. Land became a major figure. Over the next 20 years, they develop instant film. Much of their products had initial technical issues - images fading, having to place the developer on the film after it was ejected, but were so innovative that consumers were willing to deal with these bugs. Kodak was the dominant player with over 60% of the US market and even made Polaroids negatives (similar to high tech today).
Kodak eventually saw the little upstart as real competition and refused to make the negatives with the launch of the SX-70. This required Polaroid to invest heavily in building their own capacity - they had typically contract manufactured most items. This was the start of the end. Kodak then made their own instant camera, launch a 15 year patent war. Polaroid won the largest patent infringement suit ever $970 million, but that was starting of the end.
Kodak eventually saw the little upstart as real competition and refused to make the negatives with the launch of the SX-70. This required Polaroid to invest heavily in building their own capacity - they had typically contract manufactured most items. This was the start of the end. Kodak then made their own instant camera, launch a 15 year patent war. Polaroid won the largest patent infringement suit ever $970 million, but that was starting of the end.
April 10, 2018
Snap shot of Polaroid
A well written book that offers a snapshot of the iconic company and brand. I would have like to dig in a little more into the business side of things and learned more about Land, but overall a good quick read.
A well written book that offers a snapshot of the iconic company and brand. I would have like to dig in a little more into the business side of things and learned more about Land, but overall a good quick read.
September 17, 2018
For anyone with interest in Polaroid history
Excellent history of Land and the ideas and philosophy he created. A great review of a great man. What made American business great.
Excellent history of Land and the ideas and philosophy he created. A great review of a great man. What made American business great.
December 31, 2018
easy book on an important innovator. Read this instead of the book you were going to buy about Steve Jobs.
economists should buy it because it's easy and describes reality.
economists should buy it because it's easy and describes reality.
January 26, 2019
This book was surprisingly good. I normally don't enjoy non fiction very much but this one held my interest and I learned a lot.
August 19, 2019
My mother had a fifties version that my daughter still has. Grew up with these.
September 9, 2019
Fun and fascinating stories spanning the rise and decline of Polaroid. Made me grab my SX-70 and shoot a few!
January 1, 2024
Instant follows Edwin Land and his obsession with color and how the human mind perceives things with engineering like precision to build the company known as Polaroid. While Eastman Kodak would be the dominant camera/film maker in the country, with even Polaroid buying the negatives from them, it would be Polaroid that would capture the publics imagination in new ways. This book follows the business, the science, technology and personalities behind the story to have an instant picture and democratize in a way that was not thought possible at the time. Polaroid would be a company ahead of its time throughout the decades plowing money into R&D that included ink jet printers, digital pictures and advanced motion picture technology. While they would never capitalize on any of it the seeds for those products began as science research in the labs. The story is one of twists and turns and happenstance that often follows most major companies rise to prominence. Christopher Bonanos weaves together the story well with lots of pictures throughout capturing various moments of Polaroids influence.
June 13, 2020
I enjoyed this book. No, I am not an expert on the development or refinement of the chemical process involved in producing instant photographs as a result of having read it. No, I did not attain an expert understanding of the lawsuits bankruptcies and business moves of the later era Polaroid company. And no, this book doesn’t make me want to find old instant camera and become part of a hipster devotion to analog technology. But it did give me solid insight into what was arguably the second biggest brand in American photography through much of the 20th Century and I did find the story behind the man who invented the technology, Edwin Land, quite inspiring. I’d recommend it for anyone interested in popular photography.
November 5, 2019
A little slow at the start, but much much better as it goes on for sure.
As a 1980's kid, I have very fond memories of my own Polaroid camera, and I still have some of the photographs I took as a kid as a matter of fact, so this book really started hitting on all of my nostalgia buttons.
It's more of a business book than anything else, mixed in with the history of Polaroid, so overall, it was very enjoyable for me. There's some really bad people in it, mixed with some good ones, so it balanced itself out in the end.
As a 1980's kid, I have very fond memories of my own Polaroid camera, and I still have some of the photographs I took as a kid as a matter of fact, so this book really started hitting on all of my nostalgia buttons.
It's more of a business book than anything else, mixed in with the history of Polaroid, so overall, it was very enjoyable for me. There's some really bad people in it, mixed with some good ones, so it balanced itself out in the end.
February 17, 2020
Such an interesting story of Edward Land and how he was the Steve Jobs of his time. His goal in instant photography was to make it so every-day and predicted the iphone. In a presentation he said instant photography will be as simple as taking a small cell phone size box out of his pocket, snapping a photo and putting it away. He would have been amazed to see that come to fruition. The book was very thorough but got a little tedious to read. I put it down at chapter 8 (out of 9). I hope to pick it up again to finish someday.
October 1, 2017
An easy and fascinating read. The book revealed a lot about the Polaroid Land camera that I was unaware of. Land's fascination with fine and contemporary art was a revelation. The parallels with Apple are fascinating. You'll enjoy this if (1) you used a Polaroid camera at some point, (2) you are interested in innovative people, or (3) you want to see how changes in technology affect us all.
April 27, 2021
This book was absolutely fascinating. From start to finish I couldn't stop reading. I had no idea that Polaroid's history was so tumultuous - I had always assumed they hit it big then slowly descended into obscurity but brought back slightly due to nostalgia. If you're a photographer or not, read this book if you like a great story.
March 22, 2017
What an amazing read this was to me. I've been shooting film and polaroid since the beginnings of 2000. I'm so inspired and in awe at Edwin Land's life long focus to make instant photography for what it turned out to be. anyone who's interested in history of Polaroid film evolution, the people who worked behind the scenes, and all the artists who've helped/ established such a strong creative root with Polaroid
January 4, 2020
More of a 3.5. Definitely an interesting story but I’m not it quite got the treatment it deserves, if that makes sense. A bit too fluffy, but maybe I’ve been reading ultra-serious polar expedition books too much.
March 27, 2020
I enjoyed this book, I did feel like it glazed by a few things and underplayed them. I wish more was said about Mr. Land's involment with the goverment, I don't remember it mentioning much about his recommendations and contributions. Overall I was pleased with this book.
July 10, 2022
This book started strong and petered out for me. I thought it was a good overview on the history of Polaroid, but was hoping for more detail, rather than the hop from topic to topic. Overall, worthwhile if you are interested in photography and its history!
January 18, 2024
"The bottom line is in heaven!" -Edwin Land
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. It was really interesting to read about the colorful history of Polaroid. Towards the middle and end it slowly fizzled out. Still worth the read.
I really enjoyed the first half of this book. It was really interesting to read about the colorful history of Polaroid. Towards the middle and end it slowly fizzled out. Still worth the read.
July 8, 2017
Just ok. A longer wikipedia entry basically
February 9, 2022
This fun book gave the history of the Polaroid brand. Although thorough and well-researched, it sometimes lacked spark and needed a little more enthusiasm behind the writing.
September 14, 2022
Jumps to many launches. its not descriptive enough.
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