Polaroid envy...

I love Polaroid.  Who doesn't?  Polaroid made taking photos immediate, accessible and oh such fun.  They used the coolest fonts, the cleanest graphics, and their happy rainbow stripes were just that - happy!  Then they kind of messed it all up by announcing that instant photography was dead and the future was digital.

Since then, I've been a fervent admirer of The Impossible Project.  If you haven't heard of them, these are the guys who knew what Polaroid didn't seem to know - that their product was super cool and that people had a deep emotional connection to it. As a result they took over the old Polaroid factory, took on retired and retrenched Polaroid workers, and set about figuring out how to make instant film.  They've just released their first film, it's a silvery monochrome and I'm anxiously waiting on Mr Postman to deliver mine so I can have a play!

They also made the old Polaroid stock available on-line at fairly reasonable prices (especially compared to some of the obscene amounts of money that film was being sold for on eBay and the like).  They've been selling film, cameras and even the jackets that the Polaroid workers used to wear in the factory! (My husband is now the proud owner of one such jacket, a birthday present which I think I like more than him...).  Most of it has sold out by now though, so don't get too excited!

Great story, huh?  I love it because it's about passion and determination and recognising when something is just plain good.

All of this is a rather long winded way of telling you that today I have MASSIVE polaroid envy.  You see, I subscribe to the The Impossible Project newsletters, and this morning I was greeted with this:

It's an original SX 70 - completely refurbished and resplendent in all it's chrome and leather-y glory!   Gasp!  Want!  Yes please!

But it's 300 Euros cheap, a tad over my 'just for fun' budget.  And as it's a rather limited edition, putting it on my Xmas wish list won't help.  So I'll just have to admire it from afar.