Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

Polaroid Revisited

A group of Polaroid enthusiasts try to keep the instant-photography nostalgia alive.

Download

It wasn’t that long ago that Polaroid cameras were all the rage. The technology was exciting: press a button, get a picture. You didn’t even have to drop the film off at the drug store and wait a few days. But when digital photography came along, Polaroids didn’t seem quite so amazing. The company faded away.

Well, let’s not write an obituary just yet. On today’s show, we talk to Dave Bias. He’s with a group called The Impossible Project. They’re Polaroid enthusiasts who managed to buy up the last remaining factory making Polaroid film just as it was about to be dismantled. Now, The Impossible Project is manufacturing and selling it’s own line of instant film to be used with that old Polaroid you have in the back of the closet. We talk to Dave about film, cameras, chemicals, and what memories are supposed to look like.

Here’s are two interesting write-ups of what The Impossible Project did.

And here’s a video that I was unable to embed. But you’ll enjoy it.

Latest Episodes

View All Shows
  • Make Me Smart
    a day ago
    26:01
  • Marketplace
    a day ago
    25:42
  • Marketplace Morning Report
    2 days ago
    6:54
  • Marketplace Tech
    2 days ago
    8:03
  • Million Bazillion
    5 days ago
    28:24
  • How We Survive
    8 days ago
    25:04
  • This Is Uncomfortable
    9 days ago
    26:12
  • Financially Inclined
    3 months ago
    12:30
  • The Uncertain Hour
    4 months ago
    22:50
  • Corner Office from Marketplace
    5 years ago
    20:58