My good friend and former neighbour, S. Cousin, the Polaroid photographer and experimenter, was visiting recently when he told me two interesting facts:

1. Our project, Love Come Take Me, was recently featured in an exhibition.

This is always good news, it gives me ‘artist credentials’ – apparently some galleries are unwilling to display work unless you have appeared in another gallery.  It sounds like some sort of racket to me, but apparently you can cash your credentials in for future exhibits.

The only problem with the exhibition is that I didn’t get to see it. I’m not that bothered about seeing my ink in a gallery, rather it would have been nice to walk in, unknown, and make my opinion on the genius of the artists well known.

2. The Polaroid photographer and experimenter, S. Cousin, may be retiring.

At first I thought he was joking, the idea of Mr Cousin without a Polaroid camera seems absurd, and it’s not like you just stop taking pictures one day… but then he explained – Polaroid, the company, are ceasing to make the film. They estimate stocks to last up until the end of 2009.

It may be that another company will by the rights to reproduce and sell the film, but given the onslaught of digital technology, it’s unlikely in the short term – You should expect people to start hording film like gold, and possibly, some nations will base their currency on available stocks.

If eras were marked by their technology, this would be the end of one.

And so it is that I may be left pondering for ever – It doesn’t speed up the process, nor does it have any influence on the picture so why is it that people persist in flapping Polaroids around when waiting for them to develop?