...In 1970. For context, start the video at about 10:44...
...And he pretty much nails it at about 12:30. Cool. The video was a presentation for a stockholders' meeting. Thanks to the reader who suggested this.
Land, as younger readers might not know, was the genius inventor behind the Polaroid camera and the genius marketer/businessman behind Polaroid Corporation, which is essentially gone now but was a great success story of its era.
Mike
Product o' the Week:
A fantastically comfortable ergonomic mouse for PC users. Should be considered incompatible with Mac unless you want to use only default settings. Available in regular and small sizes, right and left hand, and wired and wireless. WARNING to Mac users: Do NOT download USBOverdrive! It broke my computer. But really, for you PC users, you won't believe how easy on your hand this mouse is.
The link above is a portal to Amazon, through which most anything you purchase will be credited to TOP. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
And here is a portal to...
Original contents copyright 2021 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
scott kirkpatrick: "Fascinating video, in many ways. The whole clip, not just starting at 10:44. His accent is incredibly Boston. I hadn't appreciated the size and complexity of Polaroid at its peak but he describes it all, down to the I.M. Pei factory that is probably still down on a hilltop in Norwood. I wonder what it does today. He sounds in some ways like a high-tech founder of today, but in other ways couldn't be more mid-century, post-WWII management."
Marshall Arbitman: "The Steve Jobs of his time. And, in many ways, twice the wizard. These days, the pretenders to the SX-70 throne, and inheritors of the title, cannot even manage a film that develops in daylight. Land invented it 50 years ago. As a kid, I'd ride past the factory at least twice a week, like Charlie Bucket gawking at Wonka's place."
Frank Gorga: "I enjoyed Victor McElheny's biography of Edwin Land titled Insisting On the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land."
Kenneth Tanaka: "Edwin Land sure did land awfully close to today’s world in that talk! (I’d never seen it, so thank you for sharing it!)
"Edwin Land is unquestionably one of the true heroes and great minds behind photography’s history. Years ago when someone asked me who I most admired in photography I immediately named Land. ('Who?' was the response.) Unlike most of my contemporaries who started with B&W film, the Polaroid Land camera was my first camera as an early teen. I loved it. I would scrimp to buy film packs to feed it. Many years later I began reading of Land’s accomplishments not just as an engineer but also as a promoter. He was a remarkable person.
"If you want to see just how good of an engineer and visionary Land really was try to get your hands on the three-volume (two-book) set, Edwin H. Land's Essays. It’s long out of print, but still buyable on the used market. Much of it is deep technical presentations aimed mainly at helping to attract capital for developing various photographic technologies, including instant photography film. The volumes are titled, 'Polarizers and Instant Photography,' 'Science, Education and Industry,' and 'Color Vision.' That third volume features extensive detailed treatises on Land’s 'Retinex Theory of Color Vision.' It’s a remarkable series of papers for the technically-minded reader. There is a more human biography of Land’s life (which I can’t seem to find at the moment) but his essays are the best way to know what a real genius and oracle he was to photography.
"Thank you, again, for posting that video link. What a character, eh?"
hugh crawford: "When I was a child I would see advertisements for the Polaroid Land camera and always wondered what happened to people who tried to take a picture on a boat. I figured it must be pretty dangerous if they felt compelled to put the word 'Land' in the name."
Mike replies: Ha! I had that very same thought as a kid.
Edwin Land was a scientist and prolific inventor in: optics, color vision and instant photography. He earned a total of 535 Patents.
I recommend Peter C. Wensberg's book: Land's Polaroid: A Company and the Man Who Invented It. It is out-of-print but used copies are still available.
Posted by: Robert Hudyma | Monday, 22 March 2021 at 09:50 AM
Well, Steve Jobs said meeting Edwin Land "was like visiting a Shrine"
It is not an accident that both men operated at the intersection of Art, Business, and Technology, and both were consummate showmen.
A very powerful combination.
Posted by: Michael J. Perini | Monday, 22 March 2021 at 10:51 AM
So what happened next? Sony Beta totally killed Polavision's instant 8mm film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtIDK1Uj5pA
Posted by: scott kirkpatrick | Monday, 22 March 2021 at 10:55 AM
We called the instant photos and the camera Polaroids or a Polaroid. Much like a generation or two earlier when cameras and photographs were called, "Kodaks". Or so I've read.
Posted by: Speed | Monday, 22 March 2021 at 11:08 AM
It's sad because that factory would return again to that state once Polaroid disappeared, and not just the cameras and the film but the factory and the know-how that produced them. The new Polaroid cannot replicate what Land did despite plenty of funding and some of the original hardware. Type 55, to take one example, was a kind of miracle. Yes, consumers seem to have benefitted from the digital wallet (Land's analogy is more apt since having access to the cash inside is really the whole point of the exercise) but I'm not convinced that the new substrate has been a boon to artists - and the promise of an advanced technological future has been mostly a dud (the attention economy, with its ubiquitous screens, encouraging a deeper connection with fantasy is surely a part of this narrative). Lastly, that faded film, reduced to its reds, can't help but remind one of Land's Retinex theory.
Posted by: David Comdico | Monday, 22 March 2021 at 11:23 AM
This is a great book about Edwin Land and the Polaroid Corporation--he was one of Steve Jobs idols and Polaroid was a company he clearly modeled Apple after.
https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Story-Polaroid-Christopher-Bonanos/dp/1616890851/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=polaroid+book&qid=1616465869&s=books&sr=1-5
Posted by: Steve Rosenblum | Monday, 22 March 2021 at 10:19 PM
Land's concept of the perfect consumer camera is still valid. It's convenience, convenience, convenience.
Only denizens of fora think that there are hordes of phone-photographers looking to step-up to ILCs. The vast majority of phoneographers are stepping-up to the next iteration of convenient smartphones.
Posted by: c.d.embrey | Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 02:10 AM
Reminds me of Rod Serling. Genius.
Posted by: Gary | Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 03:10 AM
There's an exceptionally pleasurable and mesmerizing film about Land, Polaroid, and some aficionados trying to keep it all alive. It's called 'Instant Dreams'. Parts of the 'Long walk' video are incorporated, too.
I watched it on Kanopy, but it's also available on prime video.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5458406/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_Dreams
Posted by: beachbum | Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 05:42 PM