Berlin - Press the shutter, pull the tab and wave it about - 90 seconds later you get a unique, white-framed snapshot created as if by magic. Polaroids were great for those party shots and artists liked them too but digital photography spelt the death knell for the instant camera and it vanished from sight.
The films for them are no longer in production and the technology is considered passe. Now the vogue for analogue authenticity is attracting people back to this near redundant way of taking pictures.
Keen "Pola"-fans have hoarded thousands of stacks of instant film cartridges and the number of digital rebels embracing this retro format is growing by the day.
One Austrian entrepreneur even plans to start remanufacturing the "film with the built-in chemistry laboratory." Florian Kaps is a man who enjoys a challenge but is realistic enough to know what he is up against. Kaps calls his vision of a Polaroid future "the impossible project" - perhaps because even a year after the scheme was officially launched it has still not been fully realised.
The Polaroid factory was located in the small town of Enschede in the Netherlands just across the border from Germany and when it closed in June 2008 Kaps was determined that the technology behind the iconic snaps would not die. It somehow had to live on for future generations, he believed. "After all, Polaroids are one of the only non-digital media products left," said the 39-year-old.
Kaps bought up the redundant Polaroid machinery and rented the plant in Holland. Production is due to start next year - with the aim of turning out a million films. In the meantime Kaps and his team have more or less had to re-invent the instant film since the chemicals used are no longer available.
"We are looking for substitutes which have the same effect," explained Kaps. To achieve this the Austrian is relying on the know-how of people who worked with instant cameras for years. He gave jobs to 12 of the former 180 Polaroid employees and has assembled an unconventional relaunch team with "an average age of 55."
While the chemists in Enschede grapple with the complex problem of finding the special latex needed to create Polaroid films, Germany's first instant picture shop has since opened up for business in the capital Berlin. Kaps is involved here too.
"Among creative people in Berlin there are a lot of Pola enthusiasts," said the expert. The tiny shop in the city's trendy Prenzlauer Berg district aims to be a focal point for Polaroid-lovers and artists, said Marlene Kelnreiter who maintains the shop.
The aim is to generate new interest in Polaroid photography with exhibitions and by lending out cameras to people who are keen to experiment and to try them out.
"Polaroids really are completely magical," said Sabine Schnakenberg of Hamburg's House of Photography. In her view, there is no better way to get really close up to the way photos are developed.
A snapshot can be transformed into a miniature masterpiece using simple techniques such as massaging the film by hand or warming it with the flame of a cigarette lighter. For Schnakenberg Polaroid snaps also have a different aesthetic effect on the viewer compared to digital photography.
Artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein were aware of this too. They admired the "Polas" for their old-fashioned honesty and the allure of the imperfect. "Taking instant pictures is photography for the advanced," said Schnakenberg. Every picture is carefully planned, nigh on celebrated. "In that way they acquire a different value."
According to Kaps, "the colours and the need to shake the picture as it develops engender an intimate, personal relationship to the image. This has become a rarity in the digital world."
One of Polaroid's last inventions before its demise, a ill-fated device dubbed "PoGo," was a move in the wrong direction as far as Kaps is concerned. The combination of compact portable camera and inkless printer produced a stream of sticker pictures, "but they weren't proper Polaroids," said Kaps.
People are now longing for something more real and tangible, he added: "It's like the rumble of an old vinyl record" - and they too have since made a big comeback.
Internet: www.the-impossible-project.com.
