The material was expensive, the faces pale, clothing and landscapes with a tinge of yellow. Long live Polaroid! “The aesthetic purpose of instant photography is to provide a new form of expression for all those who have an artistic interest in the world”, said Edwin Land, the inventor of the Polaroid camera with which he went on sale in 1948. Indeed, Polaroid pictures along with their peculiar aesthetic have delighted whole generations of important photography artists, ranging from Ansel Adams, Robert Mapplethorpe and Andy Warhol to Helmut Newton and Nobuyoshi Araki. Exactly 60 years after its founding Poloraid had to declare bankruptcy. Thanks to a few daring, visionary entrepreneurs the films and cameras can still be purchased, even with improved technology.

Also Elfie Semotan, the doyenne of Austrian fashion photography bets on Polaroids – as a practical possibility to immediately verify an idea and as a stylistic device in order to capture authentic moments. Moments when people, models are simply themselves. In 2012 Semotan has published a book with Walther König that features her Polaroid works, STAND-INS, which has been designed by brand unit as a note- and sketchbook – with reference to Semotan's approach to Polaroid photography. “As if you're drawing with your left hand”, she once said in an interview, with a chuckle...