The Polaroid Book: Selections from
the Polaroid Collections of
Photography (Taschens 25th
Anniversary Special Editions) by
Barbara Hitchcock
The Polaroid Book
This survey features more than 400 works from the Polaroid Collection
along with essays by Hitchcock, who illuminates the beginnings and history
of the Polaroid Corporation.
Personal Review: The Polaroid Book: Selections from the
Polaroid Collections of Photography (Taschens 25th
Anniversary Special Editions) by Barbara Hitchcock
On my desk at the moment is a cherished copy of "The Polaroid Book:
Selections from the Polaroid Collections of Photography", published by
Taschen. This book is a delightful ode to a fantastic art medium that is,
unfortunately, fading out.
The immediacy and intimacy of Polaroid photography simply cannot be
replicated by digital photography. Sure, you can pick up a digital camera
and point and shoot all you like, but you won't have a completed, printed
image sliding gracefully out of the camera and developing before your
eyes. You will also not get the opportunity to dismember the image during
its development and experiment with such delights as transfer printing.

Don't get me wrong, digital photography definitely has its merits and its
vast possibilities - I'm a fanatic and practitioner myself. However, there is
no other photographic medium that can possibly compare with the
inimitable Polaroid - and it is sad to see it slowly diminish and disappear
from the shelves.
The Polaroid Book is, in my opinion, a most fitting tribute to the Polaroid
technology. Edited by Steve Crist, and with an introductory essay by
Barbara Hitchcock (Director of The Polaroid Collections and written in
September 2004), the book includes 254 images and a brief overview of
some of the more significant cameras sold by the company.
One of the downsides of this book, like all great photographic books, is that
you are left feeling somewhat let down by the fact that it is not the original
works that you are looking at. The temptation to pick the image up off the
page, feel it and hold it is, in my case, quite overwhelming. It is difficult not
to have your browsing completely arrested by images like Joyce
Tennyson's "Suzanne in Chair", Danilo Sartoni's "Landscape", Rien
Bazen's almost Rothko-esque "(Blue Chair)", Bill Burke's "Family, Kermit,
W. Va." - in fact there are too many to list here, but you get the point.
The book also contains images by Andy Warhol, Robert Mapplethorpe,
Ansel Adams, Harry Callahan, Paul Caponigro,David Hockney and Helmut
Newton, to name but a few. Of particular interest to the book's Australian
audience is "Sisters 1" by Mark Power, an image made in 1970. Is it
because that photo was not taken by Bill Henson that the book has not
attracted the ire of that country's wowser's?
All in all, a great reason to turn off the TV, get comfortable, and immerse
yourself in the pleasures of a disappearing art medium. Maybe, hopefully,
books like The Polaroid Book will trigger our collective consciences into
doing what needs to be done to make this medium the giant it once was.
After all, compared to the opportunities available to digital photographers,
the Polaroid is quite limiting. However, isn't it limitation that is the mother of
creativity? This book argues a convincing "YES". Thankfully, it has been
reprinted by Taschen and is currently available at a very reasonable price.
Do yourself a favour and add it to your collection today.
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