Trailer | Mr. Polaroid
Preview: Season 37 Episode 3 | 1m 45sVideo has Closed Captions
The story of Edwin Land, whose iconic Polaroid camera let everyone instantly chronicle their lives.
Before the iPhone, the Polaroid camera let people instantly chronicle their lives. Along with instant photo mania, its company culture became the model for Silicon Valley. Mr. Polaroid is the story of Edwin Land, the man behind the camera.
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Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
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Trailer | Mr. Polaroid
Preview: Season 37 Episode 3 | 1m 45sVideo has Closed Captions
Before the iPhone, the Polaroid camera let people instantly chronicle their lives. Along with instant photo mania, its company culture became the model for Silicon Valley. Mr. Polaroid is the story of Edwin Land, the man behind the camera.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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When is a photo an act of resistance?
For families that just decades earlier were torn apart by chattel slavery, being photographed together was proof of their resilience.Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipI look forward to the kind of photography that was always with you.
Take a wallet out of my pocket and perhaps open the wallet.
Press a button.
Close the wallet and have the picture.
It's one of the most instantly recognizable brands ever.
I can't imagine a world without the Polaroid.
It was truly revolutionar in the real sense of the word.
A camera, which you would use as often as your pencil or your eyeglasses.
This camera made photography accessible and portable.
That was groundbreaking.
If we look at early photography, we had heavy equipment.
You shot your film, put in an envelope, you mailed it off to be processed.
The holy grail is to press the button.
The camera does the rest.
Photography will never again be the same after today.
When Edwin Land started showing this camera, everybody went wild.
Everyone is bitte by this desire to take pictures.
Every significant invention must come to a world that is not prepared for it.
He was a scientis first and a businessman second.
He didn't really care about money.
He was interested in innovation.
Land was driven by technology.
It wasn't about ethics.
It was about the product.
For him, the Polaroid camer is something that society needs.
And he must.
Polaroid was the Apple computer of the 50s and 60s.
Steve Jobs would tell you that bland was his idol in many, many ways.
Not many people can say that something is significant until after it is done.
Video has Closed Captions
Preview: S37 Ep3 | 9m 18s | Watch a preview of Mr. Polaroid. (9m 18s)
Why do people shake Polaroid pictures?
Video has Closed Captions
Clip: S37 Ep3 | 1m 58s | We were told to "shake it like a Polaroid picture". But what if we got it wrong? (1m 58s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
Support for PBS provided by:
Corporate sponsorship for American Experience is provided by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Carlisle Companies. Major funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.