The Branding of Polaroid, 1957 - 1977

Polaroid Spokespeeps Quiz (for my young friends)

While we segue from the dailies of instant summer to a more in-depth survey of instant photo talent, let's see if you can recognize the important television stars who did live commercials demonstrating the early Polaroid Land cameras.
 
The original star of the Tonight Show on NBC-TV was a talented stand-up comic, musician, author, and songwriter. He often had trouble operating the early cameras, which could not be edited out because the commercials were all live. There was no possibility for another take. His maniacal cackle and total break-up on camera were all part of the most interesting show on television at that time, if you could stay up late to watch it. Answer below.

 
He followed when the gentleman above retired from the Tonight Show. Alas, he couldn't do much except talk, with some interesting guests and others who were crushingly boring. Often entertaining, maudlin, and petulant, he once walked off the set and returned at a much later date to the consternational of his loyal viewers. Answer below.


A pleasant gentleman, crooner and former barber, he sported the best hair and one of the best haircuts on television at that time. He's been out of the media for decades. Answer below.

Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Perry Como

Now! There's a separate blog for the best of analog photography -- including instant!

 

We have a new blog spinning off from this Branding of Polaroid blog. It is under construction and should soon be up to full speed. It's necessary because we have had a mixed metaphor, so to speak, bundling (to use a techy term) great analog photography and photographers, as well as amazingly outstanding instant photos and photographers in and among material related to Polaroid in its golden years, branding and graphic design of recent times.

Click here for a hot link to Analog Photogaphy at its Best and please be sure to bookmark it.

Labor of Love Labor Day Announcement

 

We have a new blog spinning off from this Branding of Polaroid blog. It is under construction and should not take too long to get it up and running. It's necessary because we have a mixed metaphor, so to speak, bundling (to use a techy term) great analog photography and photographers, as well as amazingly outstanding instant photos and photographers in and among material related to Polaroid in its golden years, branding and graphic design of recent times.

Click on the image immediately above or here for a hot link to Analog Photogaphy at its Best and please be sure to bookmark it, too.

Instant Talent: Instant Summer, Day by Day -- 75

Rhiannon Adam, Crash, 2008

Rhiannon took this dramatic photo in Wales on Polaroid 667 film with a Model 195 camera. It may be seen with others at her Wash Me Away link.

What better photograph to end this summer series on a crescendo note and remind us of the visit of Tropical Storm Irene? It certainly got our attention here on the northeast coast of the USA. I hope these Instant Summer, Day by Day uploads attracted your attention as well. I have been privileged to be able to showcase some amazing talent, thanks to the kindness and enthusiasm of all those featured in this series. I like to think that we have seen enough examples of fine photography to prove that there is indeed vibrant life after the [supposed] death of instant photography.
See you after our celebration of Labor Day (by doing nothing) tomorrow. 

Instant Talent: Instant Summer, Day by Day -- 75

To enhance instant color, or not? It depends . . . 

Bastian Kalous, sunday morning, SX-70 and TZ film, 2011

In one of the early pages, I uploaded the impressive work of Bastian Kalous of Germany and his lovely model Julia. The photo appears above. I  wanted to show it as an example of a photo that is salvageable despite imperfections in the film itself. To be picky, there's more to it than that. It's a good pose, pretty face, nice expression, but it had what I considered pasty flesh tones. However, there was something more in the film that was just waiting to be enhanced. Just a tiny bit of tweaking saved the flesh tones. See below.

To be fair, this was a problem for many years with Polaroid SX-70 film. 

The author, Fran, Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, 1981

To enhance this photo, these adjustments in color balance were made in Photoshop: Red +20; Magenta -18; Blue +14, and even then it wouldn't be good enough for reproduction. And that's almost ten years after the introduction of the SX-70 film and its camera models, the products of countless hours of work and experimentation by Polaroid's top scientists and hundreds of lab rats.

This is the reason why Polaroid SX-70 prints were rarely used for print production, except where they were essential for Polaroid's sale promotion needs. They were up against this:

The author, Kodacolor test of children, 1971

The same scan corrected in Photoshop Automatic Color. I've used Eastman Kodak's Kodacolor here but the color balance, particularly in the flesh tones illustrates how much more practical it was to use EK film products for four-color print processing in the past.

There are purists who refuse to manipulate their photo output and I have no quarrel with them except to say that if experimenting with darkroom chemicals, papers, dodging, burning, and exposure times to bring out the best in a print is permissible, then the same should apply to getting the most out of a scan.

Instant Talent: Instant Summer, Day by Day -- 74

Lou Noble, Calethia, About to Say, 2007

A fabulous photo. Of it, the photographer says, "She came heavy . . . [with} a laundry basket filled with wigs, costumes . . . and hair poofed and ready. . .  " Read more here at this link.
Taken with a Polaroid 680.

Lou Noble, Whitney's a Peach, 2007

This is the wonderful Whitney Johnson, aka Revivify, whom you have met at Instant Talent 45, as photographed by Lou, who has nice things to say about this effervescent and lovely photographer. It was also taken with a Polaroid Model 680.

Instant Talent: Instant Summer, Day by Day -- 73

Shane O'Neill, what decade?, 2010

This Waterford, Ireland, photographer, notes on his Flickr page that the photo was actually taken in 2010 with a Polaroid Model 600SE on Polaroid 669 film.

The same amazing photo as might be enhanced for Polaroid promotional efforts in decades past by diminishing the strength of the cyan plate in conventional four-color process print production.