He was believed to be dead and buried, a victim of the digital revolution. But in recent years, the good old Polaroid has made a comeback. While it had stopped producing its instant cameras in 2007 and then stopped producing its films a year later, the American brand clearly felt the vein. Riding this wave of nostalgia, it now comes out with new devices every year, targeting a younger and more connected target.
Polaroid can also count on a large community of enthusiasts who have never ceased, even in the dark hours, to cherish this mythical object. In Rennes, they are grouped within of the association Tête de l’Art which organizes, as part of the Expolaroid event,
Polaroid is Not Dead exhibition, visible until October 4 at the Hôtel-Dieu (read framed).
“We think a lot more about our photo”
All its members swear by the practice of snapshot, like Alexander. “I’m not a photographer, I do Polaroid! », He assures us. He fell into the bath “at the time when nothing was being sold”. “I found my first devices in clearance sales,” he says. Then we had to manage to find films that cost an arm and a leg at the time ”. “Polaroid dealer” as he defines himself, Alexandre passed on his passion to Fanch to whom he sold two cameras.
Rather connected to digital at the base, the latter immediately succumbed to the charm of these small square photos. “The settings are quite limited on the devices so it requires you to compose your photo a lot more,” he says. And since movies are expensive, we don’t shoot galore. We think a lot more, something that we have not lost much with digital technology ”.
Imperfections which make all the charm of the photos
Once the photo is in the box, then comes the excitement of seeing them develop before our eyes as if by magic. Always with surprises. “There is this random aspect with the Polaroid,” says Alexandre. You never know in advance what the result of the photo will be. The film can also have flaws, so you have to adapt and play with it. But it is precisely these imperfections that make all the magic ”.
In the age of Instagram, the old-fashioned charm of instant prints is still all the rage. “For my sister’s birthday, I took pictures of all the guests at the Polaroid,” says Fanch. So some photos were a bit blurry, others a bit pale. But everyone was delighted in the end to have their little gift ”.
A sale of devices this weekend
Visible until October 4 at the Hôtel-Dieu, the exhibition Polaroid is Not Dead presents the work of forty national and international artists. Each artist presents a single Polaroid selected by a jury, the photo being exhibited in 1 m² format. This weekend, a bric-a-brac will be organized as part of the exhibition with the sale of cameras, photos, films and various objects related to photography.