The physicist Edwin Herbert Land founded the Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, back in 1937. It initially marketed the polarising film "Polaroid filters" developed by Land and patented in 1933. The company's big coup was yet to come: at the 1947 meeting of the Optical Society of America, Land presented a camera that used a rapid development process for the first time. A finished picture was ready in just 60 seconds.

Fun fact: According to legend, it was the physicist's daughter and her desire to be able to look at photographs immediately after taking them that prompted Land to devote himself to the invention of an instant camera.

The images from the camera, known as the Land Camera, were initially black and white and later sepia-coloured. Instant photography only became colourful in 1963 with the introduction of Polacolor film.

Another fundamental innovation was introduced in 1972 with the SX-70 integral film: all the components required for development were now contained within the image. The camera of the same name was also the first foldable SLR model on the market.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the 600 film followed, making it easier for novice photographers to take instant pictures. Compared to its predecessors, the significantly more light-sensitive film is still available today and is compatible not only with the original cameras of the time, but also with the new i-Type models.

With the advent of digital photography in the 1990s, Polaroid's successful times were followed by less favourable ones. Instant photography lost importance. The company's first insolvency was followed by a second after several takeovers. It is thanks to the start-up Impossible Project that this did not mean the end of Polaroid instant photography. In 2008, it bought the film factory in Enschede, resumed production and, not least, developed new ideas to bring instant cameras into the here and now.

In contrast to digital photographs, the results achieved with an instant camera can hardly be planned. The pictures cannot be edited. And if you want to reproduce them, you have to scan or photograph them first.

So how is it that the pictures with their characteristic frame still exert such a great fascination? The most obvious answer is surely that Polaroid instant photos not only offer a large dose of nostalgia to their digital competitors, but also an even greater authenticity. Every picture taken has something that is rarely found in the digital world: it is unique.