Polaroid: The Magic Material

As a former Polaroid employee of nearly 25 years it was fascinating to see the role former company colleagues played in this success story. The book is well written, includes great photos, and tells a great story from a historical perspective.

Really nice and complete book about the history of Polaroid as a format and how it arrived and was handled in the hands of The Impossible Project.

The book itself is terrific, but the way the book is bound is not great. The front/back covers seem to be 'glued' to the book and are not stable. Having said that, the contents of the book are new and interesting.

I'm not a big reader but almost finished this book at once. A must have for every Polaroid (Impossible) enthusiast.

As we are now eight years removed from the end of Polaroid film production we have seen numerous books on the history of the company and its apparently unnecessary demise. Florian “doc” Kaps provides the most personal of these histories as he evolves from a devoted fan of the medium to a savior for the analog movement. “Polaroid, The Magic Material” is liberally illustrated with Kaps’ personal curation of historical, artistic, scientific and the mildly erotic, the most treasured use of Polaroid film. His personal journey through the last years of Polaroid and his increasing involvement in selling the film they no longer seemed to want to sell themselves leads him to the ultimate magic moment: taking over the about to be abandoned Polaroid factory in the Netherlands and audaciously producing a new film with the remnants of the people and materials left behind. This journey is recounted in doc’s unique prose and allows the reader into the world of one company's decline and another company’s rise. True to Edwin Land’s pronouncement that a project should not be undertaken unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible Florian Kaps redirected the history of instant photography. This book is an entertaining and enlightening recounting of one man’s love affair with the medium.

As a long time employee of Polaroid, I enjoyed the accounting of the saving the film machines in Enschede with Andre Bosman. Kaps ignored the Captiva and Helios debacles that led to Polaroid's collapse along with weak leadership after Bill McCune. Interesting read; however. Poor binding had me concerned the book would separate before I finished.

This is a must-have book for anyone interested in the death and rebirth of instant film. This books is packed with all of the stories behind the decline of the Polaroid company and the risky opportunity that Florian Kaps took to prevent this medium from becoming obsolete. I especially loved seeing the snapshots of early film prototypes and getting a better understanding of how the rebirth of Polaroid film was indeed Impossible. I am grateful that Florian decided to publish this sort-of journal, documenting what really happened behind the scenes. I have a completely new view of Impossible and an even more magical connection to this art form!

If you love Instant photography, are as curious as to how, where, and why it was created, then this is a great place to start. I love all kinds of photography, but there is a certain something, in clicking a Polaroid, hearing the motors whizz, and the photo spat out ( quickly covered up if it's an impossible photo) or if you still use pack-film ( RIP) pulling apart the prints to reveal.....!!! I don't get the same buzz from digital, and instant can be quite expensive a habit, but when you capture that moment, there's no better feeling.

Great book on Polaroid. Extremely hard to obtain at the time and have it delivered to Australia in time for Christmas. Thanks to the seller Ergode for the timely delivery and their professionalism. Will be happy to buy from them again. Forget about it!!!👍

The end of Polaroid Film and the beginning of Impossible Film. Many things needed to happen. And believe it or not they did. Interesting story. Light reading in short chapters.

The book has arrived fast but the package could be smaller fitting the size of the book. The package is so big that the book "dance" inside.

Great book