Before Snapchat There Was the Naughty Polaroid

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Edwin H. Land was an American scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur. He’s a visionary scientist‑entrepreneur who reshaped photography and optical technology.

He’s best known as the co-founder of Polaroid Corporation and the creator of instant photography. He was also a major innovator in polarized light technology and color vision theory.

He held more than 500 patents related to light, optics, and photography during his career.

Edwin Herbert Land was born on May 7, 1909, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and died on March 1, 1991.

He studied at Harvard University. He left before completing his degree to focus on research and invention.

He invented inexpensive synthetic polarizing filters (Polaroid sheet polarizers). These polarizers) enabled practical uses. Such as sunglasses, camera filters, and other optical devices.

He co‑founded Land‑Wheelwright Laboratories in 1932 to commercialize polarizers.

He founded Polaroid Corporation in 1937. That’s where he invented instant cameras and films. In 1947, Land publicly demonstrated the first practical instant camera system.

His company marketed it as the Polaroid Land Camera. This camera produced a finished black‑and‑white print in about 60 seconds.

The first Polaroid Land Camera (Model 95) went on sale in 1948.

Land developed the retinex theory of color vision. He understood color perception. Which depends on processing across the entire visual system (from retina to brain). More than simple three‑color receptor responses. The brain perceives light and color. His ideas challenged classical theories of color perception.

President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Edwin H. Land the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was at a White House ceremony on December 6, 1963.

Color instant film (“Polacolor”) followed in 1963, helping make Polaroid cameras globally popular.

Art and Sexuality

The Polaroid instant film camera was a hit for reasons that might not be obvious.

People used them to make sexually explicit and otherwise provocative images. This was precisely because the photos never had to pass through a photo lab.

Instant cameras let people shoot, develop, and keep prints entirely in private. They could avoid lab technicians who might refuse, report, or copy explicit material. Which made them attractive for erotic and underground content.​

Hence the association with intimate, candid, and sometimes taboo subject matter. Which includes work by artists like Andy Warhol and others pushing sexual norms.

Before digital cameras, most film required processing by commercial labs. Many labs had rules or legal obligations limiting explicit images. So instant film became a discreet workaround.

This privacy aspect contributed to Polaroid’s reputation. It became a tool for both everyday family snapshots and more illicit or underground uses. Which included blackmail, pornography, and other off‑the‑record documentation.

As far as art objects, artists loved the product.

Apple Connection

Edwin H. Land was Steve Jobs’ hero (Steve Jobs used the same table on stage). Land had the vision for an instant camera that everyone would one day carry around in their pocket. Land gave dramatic presentations that rivaled those of P.T. Barnum for new products. Land offered no focus groups or customer surveys. He bet everything on products that the world had no idea they wanted. Not all of which became commercially successful.

The best‑known product he created that failed commercially was Polavision. It was Polaroid’s instant home‑movie system. Polavision was an “instant” color 8mm movie system launched by Polaroid in 1977.

It combined a movie camera and special film cassettes. As well as a tabletop viewer that developed and displayed the film in about 90 seconds. The system used a complex additive color film. It was slow, produced dim, grayish images, and the films had no sound and ran only about two and a half minutes.

Polavision was expensive. It had poor image quality. It required a dedicated viewer. If that wasn’t bad enough, users had difficulty projecting it on a TV or larger screen. So it was less attractive than existing Super 8 systems.

Its 1977 release coincided with the rise of videotape formats like Betamax and VHS. Polavision became obsolete in no time. This contributed to major financial losses for Polaroid. Not to mention Land’s eventual resignation as CEO.

Kodak vs. Polaroid

Eastman Kodak infringed several of Polaroid’s instant‑photography patents. This is what a U.S. federal court held after the lawsuit.

Polaroid sued Kodak in 1976 after Kodak launched its own instant cameras and films. They alleged infringement of multiple patents. They related these allegations to Polaroid’s SX‑70 integral instant‑photo system.

It was a long trial. In 1985, the District Court in Massachusetts ruled. Kodak had failed to prove Polaroid’s key patents invalid. Kodak’s instant system infringed claims of seven Polaroid patents. This led to a permanent injunction. The court forced Kodak out of the instant‑photography market in 1986.

In 1990, Judge A. David Mazzone ordered Kodak to pay damages for the infringement. Kodak paid about $909 million (later stated as roughly 925 million with interest). It was one of the largest patent awards of its time.

Nail in the Coffin

It was a victory for Polaroid until Sony produced a digital camera in the 1990s. In 1996, Sony introduced the DSC‑F1, its first consumer digital still camera.

It featured about one‑third of a megapixel resolution and built‑in memory. As well as a rotating lens section. This model effectively launched Sony’s later Cyber-shot family.

The Cyber-shot line of point‑and‑shoot digital cameras reached consumers in 1996. Sony sold them under the DSC (Digital Still Camera) prefix. Which became a long‑running digital camera brand.

In 1997, Sony released the digital Mavica models, the MVC‑FD5 and MVC‑FD7. Which stored 0.3‑megapixel JPEG images onto standard 3.5‑inch floppy disks. For the first time, file transfer to PCs became very easy.

These floppy‑disk‑based Mavicas became iconic 1990s digital cameras. Consumer digital photography (before memory cards became standard) made Polaroid obsolete.

Land stepped down as Polaroid’s CEO in 1980. He founded the Rowland Institute for Science (now the Rowland Institute at Harvard). After his resignation, he focused his energies there. Especially on investigations of optics and color vision (retinex theory). He described it as his “last experiment” in how best to organize and support scientific research.

By 1982, he completely severed formal ties with Polaroid. He and his family–controlled foundations held about 2.8 million shares. Then worth roughly 61–62 million dollars at prevailing prices. By the mid‑1980s he had sold his remaining stake. In 1985 he disposed of all his remaining stock, cutting his last financial ties to Polaroid.

By that time, he accumulated over 530 patents. He’s among the most prolific American inventors.

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