Polaroidism: definition.

When collecting examples of representations of the integral Polaroid I place them in a folder named 'polaroidism' (The photoblogs.org logo, shown above, is a good example. Though it has since been replaced by pure text. I am not sure when, or why, this change occurred: any information would be greatly appreciated).

Item's listed on eBay also feature a graphic representation of an integral Polaroid, or rather, two integral Polaroid's, one laid over, obscuring, the other, indicating that an image of the item for sale is available.

To attempt to designate the meaning of 'polaroidism' as non-photographic representations of the integral Polaroid, I thought it prudent to first ascertain its current usage. A Google search for 'polaroidism' returns eight relevant results (5th November, 2006):

1) From Jesse Jarnow's Frank and Earthly Blog, in regard to photographs taken with a phone camera. '... an accidental experiment in extra-miniature Polaroidism...' posted on the 8th of May, 2006. A prior entry, on the 9th September, 2005, helps clarify the post: 'The New Polaroids.', concerning the writers purchase of a camera phone:

With the ubiquity of digital cameras, all consumer-level photography is pretty much instant these days. Everything is a Polaroid. I've long thought, though, that lo-fi cell phone cams probably come closest to embodying what was special about the obsolete technology... Like Polaroids, cell pictures are meant to be ephemeral.'

2) Just Breathe, on Flickr. In praise of a collage consisting of three integral Polaroid's and a cut-out from Family Circle Magazine, an individual under the username mikerosebery states 'excellent polaroidism.'

3) Tigerlux, (username: Picasa) in an entry dated 10.01.06, uses the word as a heading for a blog entry discussing an inability to take good Integral Polaroid's, along with three examples of her work:

so what it boils down to, the flash on the thing is an automatic thing...i think...and so everything is blurry and washed out...that or it's a shitty camera...that or i just have no clue...which is entirely possible and most likely the case at hand... i want so badly to take good polaroids!' (though a subsequent entry, dated 10.26.2006, again showing integral Polaroid's - four in total - uses 'polaroids').

4) An individual under the name Ernie, on the 17th May, 2006, uses the word 'Polaroidism' as a heading for a blog entry detailing his purchase of a pack of Polaroid film to use with his '80's polaroid camera.' He also comments on the sound the camera makes as well as the flash:

I also love how it makes so much noise everytime it spits out a picture.

and:

oh and and im going to take the last two pics in my classes. just to see how the teacher reacts to the loud clanking 80’s noise my camera makes every time it takes a picture, not to mention the excessive and sometimes un needed flash!

An image companies the text.

5) Another blog, Citizen Dimitri, has an entry entitled Polaroidism which consists of fifty-six thumbnail size images. Hovering over this brings up the text 'Polaroid Project' - which links to slightly larger, though the same, thumbnail images.

6) A post at Killoggs (26th June 2001):

A few years ago, I decided to take a single polaroid of each of my friends, with the goal of having a polaroid of everyone I knew. Eventually, due to costs and losing interest, I stopped. But here are the pictures themselves, or "the files", as they were known. These are the various characters that populated Baton Rouge and LSU in the late 90s.

Above the text are six integral Polaroid portraits(clicking on one of these images navigates to a page containing seventy-five images in total). One reply to the post states: 'polaroidism is an expensive hobby.'

7 & 8) Two entries returned are from blogs.yahoo.co.jp, Google translations of which provide no indication as to the manner in which 'polaroidism' is used. If anyone has any additional information in this it would be greatly appreciated.

So in what manner does the word currently function? '

Polaroid'  itself both a noun (Nouns are often thought of as referring to persons, places, things, states, or qualities) and a trademark ('any name, symbol, figure, letter, word, or mark adopted and used by a manufacturer or merchant in order to designate his or her goods and to distinguish them from those manufactured or sold by others. A trademark is a proprietary term that is usually registered with the Patent and Trademark Office to assure its exclusive use by its owner.') Indeed, Polaroid functions as a trademark in two main ways: not only in the manner detailed above, but also in a more general sense: 'a distinctive mark or feature particularly characteristic of or identified with a person or thing.' In this regard 'Polaroid'  functions as a hyponym (the best example of this is the common usage of 'Hoover' for 'vacuum-cleaner').

The suffix -ism functions then in two ways, with one predominating. The first entry detailed is applied to a photographic methods that resemble integral Polaroid use: 'instant', 'obsolete', 'ephemeral', subsequent entries (2 -6) apply to integral Polaroid use itself, the act as well as the result (As mentioned, entries 7 and 8 provide no information I am able to understand). The latter, I think, is to general; the former, while more in keeping with my own employment, is still, for my purposes, too encompassing - especially incorporating ephemeral (lasting a very short time; short-lived; transitory). For the purposes of this blog, then: 

Polaroidism: a non-photographic image that references the integral Polaroid.

Update on 12 12 2006 by S. Cousin

A slightly larger example of the eBay polaroidism.