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London seems to have caught the Polaroid blues as – along with the rain – tributes to mark the demise of the iconic camera seem to be starting to pour all over the city, coinciding with the October 2009 expiry date of the last batch of Polaroid film.

Polaroid by Helmut Newton

Both The Pump House Gallery in Battersea and the Atlas Gallery in Soho are featuring interesting exhibitions about Polaroid including photographs by artists such as Richard Hamilton, Marc Quinn, Helmut Newton, Andy Warhol, Rut Blees Luxemburg, Walker Evans and others, alongside examples of the use of Polaroid in professions such as medicine, filmmaking and fashion.

Polaroid Still Life by Andy Wharhol..

As we all prepare to wave good bye to an era full of “Polaroid moments” the unthinkable happens and wait a minute…is that a bird? is that a plane? … No, it’s Polaroid super-hero: Florian Kaps, an Austrian artist, businessman and Polaroid obsessive who is here – apparently- to save the day! We hear that Kaps has devised a master plan to re-open the currently dormant Polaroid factory in Amsterdam and begin manufacturing film again. Hurrah!

Kaps who is also the founder of Polanoid.net, (the biggest Polaroid gallery on the web) and Polanoir, the first ever Polaroid-only art gallery in Vienna says: “The project is more than a business plan; it’s a fight against the idea that everything has to die when it doesn’t create turnover”.

Polaroids by Andy Wharhol.

It was last February when Polaroid announced they would stop making the iconic film, that enthusiasts of the instant cameras all over the world, seem to have started a campaign to save the film from becoming extinct.

Dubbed “The Impossible Project”, the development of new film for Polaroid cameras launched recently working with Ilford, a black and white photography company based in Manchester. The machinery is in place to produce film of two exposure types, each compatible with both the classic SX-70 cameras popular with artists and the more modern 600 series.

POlaroid by Helmut Newton

Work has begun on a prototype. By hiring 11 of the original Polaroid team from the factory floor, Mr Kaps aims to mass produce both colour and black and white film under a label called “Impossible” all by December 2009, coinciding with the projected date that existing stocks will run out.

Are you up for saving Polaroid?