By contributing columnist Megan Eckman aka Studiomme

Like all good things, the Polaroid Land camera has come back into fashion. Some may argue that it never left but there is no denying that less boxes of instant film have been stocking the shelves this last decade.

The digital camera, which offers a similar instant gratification with a lower film cost, has quickly replaced the Polaroid as the American family camera. With the announcement in February of 2008 that the Polaroid Corporation would be discontinuing all instant film, a movement of photographers and vintage lovers began to revive the camera.

The Polaroid was developed in 1947 with the help of Edwin H. Land, who founded the Polaroid Corporation. Land’s purpose was to create a seamless and easy-to-use photographic system. The resulting camera could be used by anyone, even children, because it took care of focusing, exposure settings, and flash. The Polaroid allowed people to see if their picture turned out or it they had to shoot. It was also ideal for ID and passport portraits.

Over 60 years later, the Polaroid has infatuated another generation of photographers with its instant gratification and frequent “happy accidents”. The Land cameras take pictures with a signature muted palette and soft focus, which gives a vintage feel to modern photos. Inconsistencies in color and texture crop up frequently due to the chemicals reacting to external temperatures or too-eager fingers. However, most photographers agree that they love the singularity of the instant photo and the old square format that lets them watch a memory take form in their waiting hands.

Megan Rhodes, a Polaroid photographer, does admit that the vintage camera has some “not” happy accidents. Due to the packaging of the new Fuji film, there’s more waste for each photo, making it hard to hold several wet Polaroids and their tear-sheets without getting dust on the developing photographs. However, she loves the way that people want to know more about her camera when she uses it. She also enjoys the fact that the instant film offers a “healthy limitation” to what she can shoot because of the number of sheets in a film pack. “It makes you more considerate and aware of how you are capturing your subject. It really makes you approach how you are capturing your images, and how you view the world, in a whole new way.” Megan Rhodes sells her Polaroid prints, and larger archival prints of the photographs, in her Etsy shop.

Other Polaroid photographers on Etsy include: Opart and Bucks County Frames.

So no matter if you grew up with the instant camera or want to try it out for the first time, you should act now before they’re all gone because there’s no telling when the Polaroid will be back again!

Polaroid Camera image courtesy of Lola’sRoom

All other images courtesy of the various Etsy Shops mentioned herein.

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Tags: bucks county frames, camera, craft business, instant photo, land, megan rhodes, opart, Poloroid, studiomme, vintage

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