Assignment 1-4 Weekly Written Analysis 1
Digital Cameras - Instant Photography

The world of photography was changed in 1948 when the introduction of the instant photography camera by Polaroid. This camera allowed the novelist photographer now have the pictures developed at their finger tips. The development of this film was revolutionary to the industry. Consumers no longer had to wait for your pictures to be developed by a professional at a photo lab, you were just a click away from a fully developed picture. The amateur photographer was amazed to see if your picture turned out within a few minutes. Polaroid pushed the industry to come up with better ways to supply the consumer with increasingly innovative cameras. The instant development is another display of how our society was changing with innovation.
I wasn’t born during at the time of the unveiling of instant developed film camera, but my first memories were in 1981 for my tenth birthday. This is when parents purchased their first polaroid instant camera. It was amazing to see our pictures right away. Can you image back then seeing the film develop right in front of your very own eyes? It was magic! I found myself wanting to take the pictures apart to see what made the pictures appear. Now looking back, I see that destructing a photo was not a sufficient way to determine how this magical imaged appeared. I also never realized how much the United States really changed after WWII by steadily becoming a nation of instant gratification. I can’t say the instant photo camera is at fault by any means, but it does show the world was changing to an instant gradification mind-set.
The digital camera is now the invention that has the instant film developing camera becoming extincted. Through many years of development the digital camera has now replaced its predecessor of instant gradification. One could say it may replace all filmed camera one day. The digital camera give so many options like, instant picture viewing, deletion, modifications, motion pictures and manipulation through computer programs. The filmed camera can’t offer such options. The film/camera industry came up with a idea to continue sales by coming up with option to take your developed picture and put them on a disc so you can put them on your computer easily. This way you no longer had to scan them and lose picture quality. I myself purchased by first digital camera only two years ago. I was stuck in the film world and was not ready to embrace the digital technology. The delay to embrace the digital world was because the cameras were expensive, seemed to be lower quality and very poor zoom capabilities. Well, now that has changed dramatically as technology always does. Cameras are amazing whether they are instant, film or digital. They allow us to take moments of our lives and make them a visual memory to have and share for many generations to come.



References

Save Polroid (2009) A History of Polaroid. Retrieved on January 9, 2009 from: http://www.savepolaroid.com/history/