When Polaroid announced in 2008 that it would no longer produce its iconic instant film or cameras, Polaroid fever struck. The new wave of interest has produced a European organization called the Impossible Project, which bought Polaroid's Netherlands factory with plans to "reinvent" the instant film, as well as Polaroid's curious announcement that pop star Lady Gaga would be its new creative director. Now Polaroid -- which apparently had been unaware of the niche demand for its original product -- is in talks with the Impossible Project to partner on the recreation of the film.
Capitalizing on the new interest, Polaroid photographers Nadine Gross and Sam Hoolihan are exhibiting 250 of their originals for the first time, alongside a selection of large scale-prints, this weekend at Gallery 112 in Minneapolis. "We thought with the amount of Polaroids we both have individually we should put on a love-letter show to Polaroid," Gross explains. "Especially now."
Although other Twin Cities photographers have dabbled in the medium, Gross and Hoolihan have specialized in it for nearly 10 years each. "It's kind of a rare thing to do it as much as Nadine and I do, and for as long," Hoolihan says, "at least on a local level." After all, unless you're like Hoolihan -- who stocked up on 50 boxes of the film when Polaroid first made the announcement -- fanatics have to shell out upwards of $50 for a pack of 10 photos on eBay and Amazon.
Gross is in the latter group. "I've been spending way too much money on film," she admits. "It's difficult to keep buying it, but it's sort of like a drug addiction." (When she really needs a fix, she'll call up Hoolihan to float her a pack until she can get her hands on some more.) They're both crossing their fingers that the Impossible Project will begin reproducing the film later this year before stocks of film run out -- or become expired.
Despite their camaraderie, the two self-professed obsessives have known of each other for only about two years. They first met at Visionary Optical, where Gross, an optician by day, fitted Hoolihan for glasses. "We talked about how eyeglasses frame a face," Gross recalls, "and we ended up talking about photography."
Gross' background in painting inspired her to take up her Polaroid camera. After taking photos to get inspiration for her abstract, minimalist paintings, she soon realized her true love was for the photos themselves. And, like many Polaroid lovers, there's also a sentimental value. "My parents documented my childhood in Polaroids, so it's been in me forever," she says.
On the other end of the spectrum, Hoolihan boasts a formal education in the medium and is attending grad school at the University of Minnesota for photography, specializing in 35mm color film. It was when he brought his Polaroid camera to the Snapshot Shanty during the Art Shanty Projects a few years ago, he says, that interest became obsession.
Hoolihan's Snapshot Shanty portraits will be among the images on display at this weekend's "Instant Film Forever" show, alongside Gross' abstract, graphic shots. The presentation of the show itself will hark back to a pre-digital time, as the duo plans to create a series of mix tapes to play on an old-school sound system for Friday's opening reception.
