Hey photo friends, Erik here with my quick 2 cents on a new product that has sparked some debate here in the CJ Studio. The Impossible Project has a Kickstarter campaign for their new “Impossible Instant Lab”, which will “transform your digital iPhone images into real instant photographs that you can touch, caress and share with friends.” Take a look at the Kickstarter video for all the details:
I should love this thing. I mean, it combines Polaroids with iPhone Photography with Kickstarter! What’s more hip and awesome than that? The charm wears off for me quickly though when I realize that all of this is just taking pictures of pictures. Is there any artistic merit here? I respect the tangible nature of instant analog photography, but more than that I respect the difficulty, unpredictability, and commitment it takes to do it well. In my opinion, all of that is lost when you’re using an instant camera more or less as a printer that connects to your iPhone. We LOVE our iphone dearly, but this gadget isn’t about that. Does an analogue printer of digital undermine instant analogue photography?
What do you think? Like I said, I should love this thing, but I don’t know
Looks like a fad for the hipster masses more than a useful creative tool.
“hipster masses” best oxymoron I’ve heard in a long time.
I feel like everyone is missing one glaring point, making money. They are a film company, one who took over an old Polaroid factory, and they need ways to make money. You are a useless company if you are making instant film and instant film cameras in a day an age when you’ve seen Polaroid die. iPhone photography and Instagram is *massively* successful, and it is a brilliant idea to make a product that incorporates that and especially geared towards an app that makes pictures look like Polaroids. Their goal as a business is to make money and there is a niche market that wants instant prints. It is a fantastically innovative idea that they will probably make money off of. It could even get people into real film photography. Clearly no one posting understands the market this is aimed at (none are apart of it).
cool but why so expensive!!!!????
Its no more impossible now with this project going live 😉
ANY tool has artistic merit in the right hands. But I don’t really see the point of this. You can print digital pics
from that little Polaroid printer Chase posted about last year. And if you really want them on actually Polaroid
film, you likely own a Polaroid camera, just take a picture of the image up on your monitor. I mean, I love what
Impossible Project is doing overall, especially since they are supporting my friend Amber’s project, but this
seems like a complete waste of money. And most people who enjoy taking pics with their Polaroids, shoot
with their Polaroids.