Reinventing Instant Film in an Age of Instant Imagery

By ADAM MCCAULEY

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In the world of photography, innovation has a shelf life. By 2008, some 60 years after Edwin Land's invention of the Polaroid camera, analog photography had been usurped by the power of the digital age. The shuttering of instant film production left a community of Polaroid enthusiasts and professional photographers with uncertain futures: Would instant film ever be produced again? Could Polaroid be resurrected?

Four years after the end of that era, a passionate group of instant film fans - under the title of the Impossible Project - have worked hard to create another era. On Thursday, Impossible will take the next step toward reclaiming the photography of the analog age, exhibiting the first images of a new large-format line of in stant film in the group's New York City space. After more than four years, the world of photography will get their first look at the new 8-by-10.

While the 8-by-10 format was never Polaroid's most popular consumer product, the film's appeal for professional photographers had always been clear.

“Looking at an 8-by-10, you have so much information,” said Chloe Aftel, a photographer closely associated with the Impossible Project. “The film can handle changes in light better than digital and there is a pleasure, richness and density to the film.”

But in the rat race for financial success, beauty couldn't compete with the appeal of digital - it was faster, cheaper, more convenient.

That is why Polaroid's announcement in February 2008 should not have been surprising. The company's laggard returns in analog sales were not sustainable - these were the consequence of a newer and faster, digital world. While Polaroid's slacking profits stifled productio n of its camera line in 2007, the end of film production threatened the consumers they had already attracted. Their once-popular cameras would soon be obsolete.

“There was something so complete about it,” said Bill Phelps, remembering the magic of the SX-70 Polaroid camera. “It was the perfect camera and idea to fall in love with. It was this beautiful object, this accessible film. It provided immediate satisfaction.”

Conceived in the mind of Edwin Land, Polaroid's founder, the instant camera and film had been available for nearly 60 years. While the modern photographer now expects to review an image in seconds, inventing a film that would develop in front of the photographer's eyes was truly revolutionary. Mr. Land accomplished that in 1947.

As interest in the digital world of photography grew, however, Polaroid's appeal waned. There were many photographers who still practiced with the form. Mr. Phelps and many of his contemporaries started their c areers working with instant film. Large format was Mr. Phelps's specialty. When Polaroid shuttered its factories, Mr. Phelps rushed to his nearest supplier, buying as much of the 8-by-10 film as his bank account could afford. For professionals left with a finite number of rolls, 8-by-10 film seemed to be nearing extinction.

That's when the Impossible Project came along.

Started in 2008, the project was founded by Florian Kaps, André Bosman and Christian Lutz, after Mr. Kaps and Mr. Bosman resolved to stave off Polaroid's extinction during an event to make the closing of Enschede's Polaroid factory in July that same year. As Polaroid continued to close and demolish factories, the Impossible staff members worked feverishly to procure any decommissioned production equipment they could find. The goal was to secure enough of the basic materials to continue to produce film for the current and future generations.

By October 2008, the Impossible Project had secure d factory space on the old Polaroid plant in Enschede and went to work putting the production line back together. Three years later, the project had released three new lines of instant film, refurbished and redistributed hundreds of Polaroid cameras, and had breathed new life into a worldwide Polaroid following - hundreds of thousands excited that instant film was given a new lease on life. But despite such successes, Impossible had not tackled 8-by-10 film.

But appreciating the beauty of traditional Polaroid 8-by-10 film was easier than creating a brand-new line. For that, the Impossible Project needed more than expertise. Some luck was needed, too.

“The equipment was found by accident,” Mr. Bias said. The machinery had been removed from a Polaroid factory in Boston to avoid destruction. The giant machines had been left in the parking lot labeled with pieces of loose-leaf paper - crude black marker denoting the contents: “8 x 10.”

The employees †œknew what they had to do to avoid the wrecking ball,” Mr. Bias added.

The salvaged equipment was shipped to Impossible's headquarters in the Netherlands, a process Mr. Bias described as “moving a piano that was never intended to be moved.” But even though the 8-by-10 materials had been saved from destruction, the Impossible staff members knew that they wouldn't be able to replicate Polaroid's process exactly.

The public “thought we bought the factory and simply started production,” said Kisha Bari, a staff photographer for Impossible who has been involved in film development since its founding. “Out of 23 components, only four were still available to us.”

Without the machinery, Impossible had to create its own, new materials. For that, they needed a steward. Enter Jennifer Trausch.

The former director of Manhattan's 20 x 24 Studio, Ms. Trausch began work on the 8-by-10 film more than a year ago, before becoming the Impossible Project's director of photography in January.

Ms. Trausch said her the film was cut by hand, with staff members measuring all materials to specification and testing “every kind of Scotch tape in existence.” They also had to tackle the complex chemistry of instant film; the dreaded and loved emulsion that can provide stunning clarity and depth when the mixture is perfected, but can also create a panoply of unexpected effects - from light flares and “snowy bits,” to dark edges and overexposed sections - when it's not.

“Throughout the process, the question was always: ‘How is this film thinking? How are the chemicals dealing with light, temperature and camera settings? And, can we follow it?' ” Ms. Trausch said. It took Ms. Trausch and her team two weeks to produce 100 film sheets by hand.

In August 2011, the public got a glimpse of Impossible's new project at the Venice Film Festival. With Maurizio Galimberti behind the lens, celebrities like Patti Smith, John C. Reilly, Monica Belucci and Willem Dafoe sat for portraits on the handmade test film. The series, according to Ms. Trausch was “a monumental success” and sparked further interest in the 8-by-10 project.

In the months that followed, improvements were made, new techniques created and Impossible reached out to photographers for the 8-by-10 film's first “beta test.” In addition, the team made test packages available for purchase - a set of 15 frames was selling for $99.

The response was extremely positive.

“The 8-by-10 is a beautiful product,” said Thom Jackson, a Dallas-based fashion photographer, whose 8-by-10 images will be exhibited Thursday night. Mr. Jackson said the film takes concentration, devotion, and, unlike some digital processes, demands reverence (read: attention) for the occasion. Perhaps most important, he said, photographers have to be willing to take a risk.

“The fascinating thing is that you never know what is goi ng to come out of the product,” said Mr. Jackson, comparing the digital age of duplication with the more furtive experience of instant film. Depending on the specific batch of film, results can vary widely - from overexposed and grainy to underexposed with “snow” and “ghosts.” But these imperfections in the film make each image special and impossible to duplicate.

“There's a drive in technology, and in the advancement of digital processes, to make everything perfect - almost of military precision,” said Mr. Phelps, who has practiced analog photography for more than 25 years. “I am fascinated by the technology, but I'm not romanced by it.”

Ms. Aftel said: “With film it's the possibility of what could happen. Those mistakes might be better than what you could have imagined.”

In the end, instant film has its own way of interpreting the world, Ms. Aftel said. That unusual interpretation is what has captured the attention of photographers b oth old and new.

Mr. Jackson agreed that there is a rebellious aspect to the adoption of instant film - a push back against the digital photography world as today's innovators look into the past to make something new again. Such processing is not lost on today's instant film connoisseurs, either, whether through applications or Photoshop people actively trying to reclaim the look of analog photography.

Leaning up against a Polaroid camera-filled display cases in the Impossible Project's large white-walled studio space in New York, Mr. Bias is even more succinct about the charm of instant film photography.

You just point and click, he said with a smirk, adding, “No apps required.”

The first test batch of the Impossible Project's new 8-by-10 Polaroid film will be on display at the Impossible Project Space from Aug. 23 through Sept. 24. There will be an opening reception on Thursday at 6 p.m.

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