Yesterday was To Write Love on Her Arms Day and I found out about this event thanks to a long-time friend, Jeanne, via Facebook and the message really hit close to home. It was created to help spread awareness about what the TWLOHA organization stands for:

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

Lately, I’ve been thinking of ways I can be more active and informed on helping others that are in need of assistance. Helping out this organization and others like it (SAVE, AFSP, National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) is something I’m planning on getting involved with. In a way I feel that participating with these types of organizations will help me to remember my father more, while also helping out those in need.

Last month (December 31^st to be exact) marked the final day of Polaroid producing its instant film products. Although, for most people in the digital camera realm this was hardly anything to care about, there are still those of us who truly love the idea of an instant and tangible photo without all the cropping, resizing, and coloring. Plus, we Polaroiders tend to have a weird obsession with the sound the camera makes when it dispenses the film.

So, while avid Polaroid fans are stocking up on the last boxes of film, at least there is PolaPremium, right? It’s a site that claims to be the “new home for instant photography,” where they sell everything from extremely rare films to camera accessories. Just this afternoon, PolaPremium sent out an e-mail for a Silver Edition Box which includes a classic 600 series camera and a shiny box of Silver Frame 600 film. Retailing for $100, I couldn’t help but wonder why this package is such a big deal…one could just paint the borders silver on their current film packs, no? Maybe it’s the whole “rare” thing they are trying to push off, in which case I’ll just go with it. Plus, they already suckered me into wanting packs of Sepia and Spectra Soft Tone.

All else aside, PolaPremium’s e-mail grabbed my attention by mentioning an announcement that they will be making over the next few days:

Thousands of analog souls out there still believe in the strength and the magic of instant integral film and aren’t ready to accept the end of this outstanding medium. Looking at all the incredible new instant art projects and the exponentially growing crowd of people who are discovering and celebrating this creative material, it’s starting to look like the big comeback of instant photography.

So for all of you who are still standing strong and united, believing in the fact that every dream has a chance to come true, we invite you to visit “The Impossible Project.”
This breathtakingly thrilling adventure – the first of its kind – will be presented to the public within the next few days and we think it has serious potential to change the history of photography.

Currently the Impossible Project page is at around 151,160 seconds (approximately 2 days) and I admit that I’m definitely interested in this project – especially if it can help me use up my stock of over 500 exposures.

I suppose if all else fails, I can use some exposures to create this cool DIY photo calendar posted by Photojojo, but then I’m still left with at least 470.

Note to my photography inspiration: please come back – we have some things to smooth over. – Thanks, V.

The book is comprised of 174 pages featuring candid Polaroid shots that were contributed by 15 young women who agreed to partner and co-create the book as they share with the world an insight into their daily lives. One thing’s for sure, NYC isn’t just where these youngster live, it’s their very own playground filled with pretty faces and creative imagery.

This time, NYC isn’t the only city having all the fun. It appears via the book’s website, several other locations are in the works to have their own yearbook, including Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, and Los Angeles

Pretty geeky yes, but that’s what I love about it. Too bad it seems the company who made it, Nerdbots, sold out of that model.

While looking some more at their site, I started to think, why in the world do I still have over 400+ Polaroid exposures stacked in my armoire? Sure, I’ve debated on holding out until all the rest of Polaroid film is snatched up and then I can cash in by selling them on eBay. However, that doesn’t seem to be the best choice. After all, with the demise of Polaroid’s instant film it almost seems wrong to not enjoy its magic while I still can.

Hopefully, with Polaroid Week coming up soon I’ll finally have a reason to venture out and capture the beauty that is possible with this overlooked and underappreciated medium.

Meanwhile, I’ll definitely make note of some great ideas found on the Polaroid Manipulations site for inspiration.

What I found interesting about this cookie comeback was how Kellogg’s listened to its fans to bring the sweet treat back. With more than 1,000 online signatures and 1,300 customer phone calls to Kellogg’s, the company has decided to temporarily fulfill its fan’s requests.

A similar situation has taken place in the low-fi world of Polaroid film lovers (including myself) when the news about Polaroid ceasing production of its instant film products was announced earlier this year. Granted, Polaroids can’t exactly be savored when dunked in a tall glass of milk, but they do hold a very special place for its avid fans by offering an instant, tangible memory.

SavePolaroid has been hard at work in spreading the word about the dying format and has already been featured in The New York Times and ABC World News. Unfortunately, the Polaroid company has looked beyond its devoted fans to pursue their latest product Polarid PoGo, a mobile photo printer which claims to be, “Reinventing Instant Photography for the Digital Age™.”

Although peel-a-part film will still be produced by Fuji, Polaroidists are left with no other choice but to hoard film until every last package is sold or price gauged on eBay.

Although the profitability Kellogg’s may receive from their decision is probably slim, I have to admit that being part of another diminishing niche market, this news made me hopeful for integral film’s future.

However, for now it seems the one thing we Polaroid users should be thankful for is that it has a substantially longer shelf life compared to a pack of cream-filled cookies.