bye-bye polaroid

Daido Moriyama
bye-bye polaroid

Photographs: Daido Moriyama

Publisher: Taka Ishii Gallery

108 pages

Pictures: 103

Year: 2008

Price: 300 €

Comments: Hardcover, 18,5 x 24 cm. Limited edition of 500 copies. Numbered. In very good condition.

“Snap the shutter and get a photo in a minute!” was the underlying concept and stance behind using polaroid, rather like the instant rice TV commercial “Step in the front door and have rice in two minutes!” For more than half a century, polaroid enabled the dream for instantly visible pictures to become reality. I have to write this in the past tense because Polaroid ended the production of instant films this summer. So I thought about holding an exhibition of polaroids to say good bye to the medium personally. Yes, “bye-bye polaroid!” There was nothing more exciting for me than taking polaroid pictures.
Daido Moriyama

As the title “bye-bye polaroid” suggests, Polaroid has stopped the manufacturing of instant film. The decision comes into force this summer following the growing strength of the digital market and the subsequent decrease in demand for instant film. Moriyama has photographed the city of Tokyo to pay homage to polaroid, a medium he has used unrelentingly for many years. In a style that hasn’t changed for 40 years, he roams the streets, smoking out the sights and smells of the city. Alleyways, advertisement boards, posters, commercial displays, and pedestrians… The Moriyama world you have seen in monochrome, can here be seen in color.