Frankfurt /Main/ Vienna However, it is not the camera that becomes a sensational invention, but the photo. A film cassette contains up to ten images with an integrated photo laboratory. In the lower, white border, each photo bunkers a few milliliters of chemicals in three small pockets. When the photo is triggered, it is pressed through two rollers so that the chemistry pockets burst and the content is distributed over the positive. The photos develop themselves within minutes, a way to the photo lab is no longer necessary. Marwan El-Mozayen, editor of the photo magazine “Silvergrain Classics”, explains the trend towards instant cameras not only with the uniqueness of each individual image, but also with its creation. “The photographer experiences the development of the photo, sees how it comes out of the camera mechanically,” says El-Mozayen. “First he sees a ghost photo, which slowly develops into a finished photo. This is a small event and has something magical.” The snapshot camera is used as a documentation camera, evidence or tool by artists in the decades after its invention. Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, Walker Evans or David Hockney work with polaroids. Fashion designers, architects and painters also rely on technology. Professional photographers often put special cassettes with instant pictures on the back of the camera to get test photos directly. With these peel-apart films, also called separation pictures, they directly controlled their set-up. The photo is pulled out of the film cassette after exposure, after minutes the photographer pulls off a film and the photo develops. Kodak produced the film negatives for Polaroid and manufactured instant cameras themselves in the mid-1970s. Technology is booming: in 1978, the two manufacturers sold around 18 million instant cameras. But Polaroid was not pleased with the competitor’s success and sued the film giant for patent infringement. After nearly a decade of litigation, Polaroid forced Kodak out of the market in 1985. As a successor to its film negatives, Polaroid sought the Japanese manufacturer Fujifilm, which from 1999 offers its own instant camera series under the name Instax. Decline and rebirth With the success of digital photography and the use of smartphones, instant picture sales plummeted massively. When Polaroid stopped producing instant films and cameras in 2008, Fujifilm was temporarily the only manufacturer of instant cameras and films. Only when Florian “Doc” Kaps launched “The Impossible Project” in 2008 did a second provider return. The Viennese photo entrepreneur Kaps, who had already made a name for himself with his commitment to experimental, analogue snapshot photography (lomography), saved the last Polaroid production plant in the Netherlands from extinction with two comrades-in-arms and began developing new instant films. “This was complicated because more than 35 components are needed for a polaroid film, but only half of them were still available,” says Kaps. Especially young creatives, who previously had nothing to do with Polaroid, support him. After two years of work, Florian Kaps was able to sell his first films in 2010 – and has been regarded as the savior of instant film ever since. “The new films are created with a new formula. It is therefore a different product than before. But a polaroid remains unique,” says Kaps. “Polaroid offers a unique piece for a special moment in a life, it is a real and self-developed photo.” Markus Elsner has been taking pictures with Polaroid instant cameras since the mid-1980s. “I was immediately fascinated by this fast and wonderful technique, the square image format with the lower white bar and the color peculiarities,” says Elsner. For almost 40 years he has been working as an artist with Polaroid, mostly with models of the SX-70 or 600 series. With his cameras, he exhibits instant picture originals as well as reproductions up to ten square meters in art exhibitions and studios. “The special thing about an instant photo is that it is directly available and unique. In addition, the polaroids offer a unique color language”” says the artist from Frankfurt. Own color aesthetics from 300 tones, small-screen slides can depict up to 34,000 different shades, polaroids come to 300 shades. “The camera interprets the colours itself, thus having its own colour aesthetic. If you know this, you can use it specifically in photography. There is a special charm in this, as well as in the manual processing of the photo,”says Markus Elsner. Although the new films from 2010 are no longer quite as brilliant as in the 1980s and 1990s due to the use of other chemicals and offer a different color reproduction than before, Elsner says. But with the right lighting conditions, even current instant photos developed their very own charm. As an artist, Elsner processes the image directly after taking the photo by manually pressing on the surface to mix the chemicals and thus change the development process. This results in polaroids that look like painted pictures. Polaroid or Fujifilm? Although the quality of Polaroid’s historical cameras such as the SX-70 is much better, Marwan El-Mozayen gives Fujifilm the lead in the films. “The Fuji films offer better color reproduction, are almost perfect and cost significantly less than those of Polaroid. In addition, they are available almost everywhere”” he says. The Fuji films are good-natured, with ISO 800 they offer a high light sensitivity and a high exposure latitude. On the other hand, there is also a charm in the unpredictability of Polaroid. “Some photographers like the surprise factor with Polaroid, because the photographer can never be sure how the colors represent themselves,” says Marwan El-Mozayen. Fans of instant cameras love the peculiar shades, the nostalgia, the analog and the accompanying deceleration. “For me, Polaroid photography is one of the strictest photography schools,” says Markus Elsner. “Photographers have to think about how they want to take pictures before each photo, because every photo is expensive and unique,” says Elsner. Instead of taking pictures, photographers had to concentrate on the “image section later carved in stone”. If an Instax double pack with two by ten shots costs around 12 euros, Polaroid charges around 20 euros for a cassette with eight shots. Only in the cassettes for the small-format Go cameras (from 100 euros) from Polaroid there are twice as many shots for the same price, that is 16. In addition to a large selection of cameras at starting prices from around 80 euros, Fuji also offers a large range of accessories for the Instax system with various formats such as Instax Mini, Instax Square and Instax Wide. Old Polaroid film cassettes, in which there are still ten photos, can only be used theoretically with new Polaroid cameras, which have been offered again for several years. “The batteries usually discharge, and the chemicals in old fume hoods also dry out,” explains Markus Elsner. Two-tothree-year-old films are usually no longer useful. Where is the battery? The new Polaroid film cassettes with eight photos are available in color or black and white, both for the old SX-70 or 600 series, as well as for the new Polaroid cameras of the Now series (from 160 euros). At Polaroid, a flat battery in the film cassette traditionally supplies the camera with energy. At Fujifilm, on the other hand, the battery has always been in the cameras. This makes the films cheaper and more environmentally friendly. However, there are also so-called i-Type versions of the newer Polaroid cameras that work according to this principle – and of course also i-type film cassettes without a battery. “Many believed that the digital would wipe out the analog,” says Florian Kaps. However, this did not happen, but the analogue received a different weighting: “It is of higher quality and unique.”
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