Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle taking a Polaroid. Does anyone still take a Polaroid? That was actually the subject of a documentary I watched on Netflix last night – about the end of when Polaroid ceased making the film for their cameras. It was the end of an era and the documentary, which wasn’t that well directed, was oddly touching. As with vinyl, what we have is a whole underground of people who want nothing to do with iPhone photos or digital photos. They want tangible. They loved Polaroid Land cameras, which were the invention of a man named Edwin Land. My first experience with seeing a Polaroid Land Camera was the mid-1950s, when a relative, the gregarious Louis Wish and his wife Esther Wish (I immortalized them briefly in Benjamin Kritzer) would come to visit at Christmas time and he’d bring his Polaroid Land camera with him, which at that time was quite an exotic thing to have. I was mesmerized by it. He’d take a picture, pop open the camera and peel a paper off, apply some chemical wash to it, and then several moments later there would be a black-and-white photograph. It was amazing. It was like magic – and Louis Wish was all about magic, frequently performing great feats of magic for us wide-eyed kids.
I never owned one of those cameras. I must have owned one of the ones from the 1970s, the SX-70 because I have photos from that time. Unless someone else took them. But in the 1980s I definitely had a Polaroid 600 and I loved that – instant photos instantly. But then digital came in and I moved on to that because it meant I didn’t have to buy film. I probably have my Polaroid 600 somewhere. Watching the documentary made me want to pull it out again. Several Polaroid employees and some Save Polaroid people got together and came up with their own film and it’s now sold – that company also sells the classic SX-70 cameras and the 600, completely refurbished. I’m going to buy some film and start doing that again. I’m bored of just looking at photos on my computer or on my phone. Anyway, it’s nice that enough people cared to not let this technology die – they are passionate photographers who feel there is something very special about the Polaroid and its instant photos, that they are art. I recommend the documentary, too.
I had the hardest time falling asleep last night – I finally nodded off at four-thirty and slept all the way till noon, which I needed but which I’m not really fond of doing. Once up, I did my usual morning stuff even though it wasn’t morning. I didn’t feel like going out to eat, so I made a couple of tuna sandwiches, since I had the ingredients – that was good. Whilst eating I did work on the computer, and then began a series of extremely long telephonic calls which consumed most of the afternoon and early evening. They were all good calls. I then watched a second documentary about the Bell Telephone AT&T monopoly that was in place for way too many years, and how it affected a genius inventor who worked for them. It’s not easy to watch and the fact that this corporation could so thoroughly ruin a life is sickening. In the end, the inventor saw the monopoly finally get taken down, but it was too late for him. They cheated him, sent him to jail, it’s really unbelievable. This man held the patents on things we now take for granted every day and he never earned a nickel on them – conference calling, the speakerphone, voice recognition, and the first burglar alarm that notified the police. It’s a nauseating story, but one well worth watching. The man’s name was Walter Shaw. The story takes many twists and turns including the mafia, the Kefauver hearings and it’s compelling viewing.
I then did a mile-and-a-half jog, after which I proofed the really nice packaging for And the World Goes Round, found some typos and stuff, and all is now ready to send to New York, New York. I should also be able to get them the album tracks to listen to – in unmastered form, of course. I’ve asked them to have any comments to me by the end of Friday. And that was basically my day and evening. I was going to do a patented rant about stage directors, but I’ll save that for tomorrow, I suppose.
Today, I have a short work session with Juliana Hansen – she’s doing the show we put together in Palm Springs in a few weeks, so we’re going to get it back up on its little feet. Then I’ll eat, hopefully pick up some packages, make a bunch of telephonic calls and do some work on the computer, including making an edit road map for an upcoming project.
Tomorrow, I have a lunch, Thursday I have a meeting about doing a commentary on a Blu and Ray, and then I’m also seeing a couple of shows.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, jog, have a work session, eat, hopefully pick up packages, make telephonic calls and more. Today’s topic of discussion: Polaroid Land Cameras, what else? Did you own one? When were you first aware of them, what was your first one, and how did you like it? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall see about finding my old Polaroid camera so I can see if it works.