Saturday, April 5, 2014

Revolution in the mailbox: Power Polaroid





I didn't even know that you could just pop a Polaroid into the mailbox. Thank you, fellow insurgent!

It's also good to see Polaroid photography in action. I asked my students last week whether they knew what Polaroid was, and they all said yes, to my surprise. (We were watching "Memento," where the main character relies on Polaroids.) Polaroid survives!

Quiz: Did the typewriter in the photo type the address label? If not, what was the make of the typewriter that did? I think I know the answer.

By the way, my post on the Typospigeon has rocketed up to a thousand views in just a few days. At this rate it will soon be the most-viewed post on my entire blog. Are people around the world fascinated by pigeon post, or what? 

In case you don't know, the Typospigeon has now arrived in the great US Southwest. See the end of my post for links to the further adventures of the bird, which I'll update as they are published to the typosphere.

10 comments:

  1. That Polariodcard is pretty awesome, creative idea. I think I may start doing this...

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  2. Ha ha ha. Richard, you'll be surprised what my most popular posts are. Good to see the beautiful bird-life in your area is so popular.

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  3. I'm very tempted to see if I can get a couple of Polaroid film packs. This might be the beginning of yet another Typosphere movement! How should we call it? "Polaroidcasting"?

    Oh! And if we sent the polaroids via pigeon mail, how could we call that ingenious analogue mutiny against the digital powers that be? "Feathermail"? XD

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  4. Nice. The one I received had the same stamp and postmark. I blogged it before posting in my office with amazing postcards from the Typosphere. I wonder if these are by Impossible Project? Most Polaroids using this size stock were powered by a battery in the film pack. That would be an old battery by now.

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    1. Interesting! Key Snap and I were discussing polaroids the other day (he had his Land Camera out for testing)
      His camera takes the Polaroid 100 film that does not have the internal battery pack. I have a Polaroid "Impulse" that I picked up on impulse, which uses 600 film with the internal battery. The empty film pack that came with it still had juice enough to fire the flash and cycle the motor a dozen or so times. At $25 per 8 shots, though, that thing is more expensive to shoot than a .44 Magnum, so it'll go un-used unless I find a couple film packs in a thrift.

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  5. Should I break out one of my old Polaroids and take a few shots of my latest addition? Probably not. I do have several unsed film packs though. As long as the battery pack does not leak or the electrolyte dry the packs can last indefinately. I agree with Ted though. Cost for replacements makes the old Polaroid too expensive to use.
    Yea Ted, around here .44 mag ammo runs about $1 to $1.50 a round (if and when it is in stock).

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    1. You can definitely try, but you may end up with a bunch of crappy or blank photos. Think of it as an experiment! :D

      All of the film that Polaroid made before they shut down is at least five years old by now. Even if it's been stored in the fridge all this time, the developer is probably all dried out and the battery is likely dead. (Polaroid doesn't make anything anymore; they just license their name for other people's products.)

      Blog post about my Polaroid-powered radio: http://thecynthiaproject.com/2014/01/18/from-the-collection-polaroid-power/

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  6. No one has ventured to answer my quiz. I think the typeface used to type my address was not available on Olympias. I say it's a Royal. You can tell by the distinctive 4 and 5.

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  7. Rats! You answered before I read this post! My Royal QDL has the uptick on the 5, so that was going to be my guess.... shucks. I see Polaroid cameras going for $2, but the film!! Way too expensive. And Fuji still sells modern instant film cameras. which give better results from what I've seen.

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  8. Fuji still makes old-school peel-apart film for vintage Polaroid cameras. You can get it for less than $10 for 10 shots online, and the colors are amazing!

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