Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan and fashion giant Vivienne Westwood have an unlikely common muse: a 33-year-old Polaroid instant camera. Make no mistake–this isn’t one of those handheld gadgets that became ubiquitous in the 1970s.
The so-called 20×24 Land Camera is a 235-pound behemoth, producing prints nearly 2 feet square. Edwin Land (1909-91), founder of Polaroid, built just seven of them, and only four are still in commercial use. Read more at Forbes.com. Article written by Francesca Levy.

In the history of American photography, Edwin Land’s invention of Polaroid film in 1947 stands out as a profound influence on the work of many great photographers. As Polaroid technology evolved and was refined from the 50’s to the end of the 20th century (culminating in the astounding 20×24 inch format film camera — only 6 were built) — artists, many painters among them, were pushing the film to its limits.
Those were heady days. Finally, photography was beginning to be taken seriously by museums and collectors.
Now there’s a singular opportunity to see the work of many of these photographers together in one show.
Their images range from the look of a classical painting to the stunningly abstract; from pure documentary to the surreal.
The exhibit “The Art of Polaroid” at Gallery 4 in Tiverton 4 Corners looks back at this incredible era and some of the well-known artists it produced.
Artists include: Laura Blacklow, Paul Caponigro, Ellen Carey, Bobbi Carrey, Marie Cosindas, Alma Davenport, Elsa Dorfman, Olivia Parker, Rosamond Purcell, John Reuter, Jim Stone and Jane Tuckerman
The exhibit runs from July 31-Septeber 6, 2010. There’s an opening reception on July 31 from 4-7pm

Gallery 4 is located at 3848 Main Road in Tiverton 4 Corners, RI.
Telephone 401-816-0999. www.gallery4tiverton.com
Hours Mon-Thurs 10-5, Sun 12-5

20×24 Holdings set up a lab and warehouse at Belding Mill in Putnam CT less than one year ago.  We transformed the space, building a darkroom to house the film spooler, moved one of Polaroid’s original pod machines into place and began testing formulas for reagents for our three films, Polacolor 3, Polacolor 7 and PP400.  Today we perfected the final piece of the puzzle, the reagent for PP400, our black and white emulsion.  We are now spooling cases of film from our large roll inventory and making pods for a new P7 reagent.  From today’s test we will move to a full production run of reagent at out reactor housed at Webco Chemical in Dudley, MA and come back to Belding Mill and place this reagent into pods.  It is a very exciting time for 20×24 Holdings, our perseverance and hard work are finally paying off. Special thanks to Paul Nangeroni, formerly of the Polaroid Black and White research lab for his consultation in formulating this new reagent.

In nearly 40 years of creating large-scale iconic images, American artist Chuck Close had never taken a commission, or allowed his work to be used commercially. That will change this year when Mr. Close starts shooting an ad campaign for AOL.  It’s not strictly an ad campaign, but more a showcase of American artists, designers and inventors, part of a year-long “Project on Creativity,” which includes Mr. Close making images of AOL users that have made a difference, like inventor Dean Kamen, who designed the wheelchair he uses to get around, filmmaker Gus Van Sant, also an AOL user (who knew?), and actress Claire Danes.  “I really wanted to get involved because of their commitment to creativity on all fronts,” Mr. Close said at the unveiling of the project at AOL’s 25th anniversary party at the New Museum in New York City.  Read more here.