Polaroid Instant Film - Farewell

There won't be too many of you of "my" generation that didn't have a picture or two or a bazllion taken with a Polaroid instant camera.

Oh my gosh, it was the coolest thing ever (before cell phone and digital cameras anyway) to have a photo you could instantly see. In the "stone" age you had your Kodak camera with the flash bulbs you purchased separately of course. You had to take you film to the drug store - who shipped it out- and you waited for up to two weeks to get the 'memories' back.

However, if you were lucky enough to know someone that had a Polaroid - with a couple of minutes patience, magically you had your photos.

Some of our best memories of Grandpa Charlie were of him taking photos with his Polaroid. Well you knew you were in the 'family' when he stood there taking the picture, placing it under his arm (plaid cowboy shirt on, of course), to help speed up the development. He or most likely Grandma Helen would place the instant photo with its built in white label in one of his albums. Labeled by a label maker too.

Older daughter won't remember but the majority of her instant baby pictures in the late 80's were via Polaroid. Then that was the quickest way to get the photos out to the extended family.

Naturally the draw back to the Polaroid if you wanted copies, well you took more photos and you also had to carry lots of film or be selective of your photos. You could send them somewhere to get copies but don't know a lot of folks who did that.

So long to those handy dandy gadgets, with their unique motor sounds as the picture popped out of the camera. The chapter on your existence has been closed to only be opened in the photo albums and sound cards of our memories.