Do you remember your first Polaroid camera? I do. My grandfather got it for me one Christmas when I was pretty young, and I recall waiting for the photo to develop, shaking it and hoping it would expedite the process. For a while, the family was forced to endure a photo shoot at every subsequent event. An ancient album of Polaroids still lives in my parent’s home, the yellowing photos looking much more beautiful than many of the Instagram filtered shots that litter the web.
While Polaroid cameras and analog film may seem to be a thing of the past, there are at least 25 people hellbent on keeping the technology alive. Those people are the employees behind The Impossible Project. Impossible is comprised of 10 former Polaroid employees and 15 others, all of whom work in the factory in Enschede, The Netherlands. Born in 2008, three founders—Dr. Florian Kaps, André Bosman and Christian Lutz—opted not to accept that analog instant photography was a dying art and saved the Polaroid production plant.
Since then, The Impossible Project has saved more than 300 million functioning Polaroid cameras from becoming obsolete by introducing various new and unique instant films. Through Impossible’s website, photographers can purchase cameras, film, accessories and more. If you want to share “the vintage beauty of analog film” with your friends and family members, consider the Impossible Spectrum Collection of 100 Instant Film Postcards. From cats and roses to telephones and feet, the cards illustrate a lovely range of color and possibilities.
Have you used vintage photography as part of an in-house design project? If so, consider entering it in the In-HOWse Design Awards & Competition. The deadline has been extended to July 1, so you still have time to submit your work.
