Poladroid Polaroids Make My Wallet Go “Ughhh!”

Trips to the States from Mexico City mean one thing: shopping sprees. The quality of products, from bed sheets to electronics, is laughable compared to the competitive power of the American market. In Mexico City, an All-In-One printer in it’s second-year of production will run about 1,180 pesos ($118 at 10-1). At Best Buy, I can get an Epson All-In-One for $70. In Mexico City, 300 thread, 100% cotton sheets will run about $100. All I need is a Macy’s sale to get some 600 thread for $50.

But I don’t think about traveling to New York City or Los Angeles to purchase sheets. Polaroid 600 film is usually the top item on my shopping list. Production is set to cease on the film in August of 2009, unless supplies is already depleted to extinction. I’m sure that won’t happen considering the cost of ten photos runs around $16.99. And the price is going up.

So when my good friend Rochelle emailed me a link to Poladroid, I went berserk. Not because the application is fun, but because I just spent over $100 on a few packs of Polaroid film that I’ve stocked in my fridge. Why am I spending all of this money when there’s an application turning any photo I want into authentic looking Polaroids? Even the sepia-toned distortion is applied in the picture above! I usually need to wait for my film to expire for that to happen! But I love it.

Now I’m flummoxed as to what to do with all of this Polaroid film. Maybe I can sell it on eBay for a hefty profit when production comes to a halt. Or, I could keep shooting real Polaroids, stick my schnoz in the air and call myself a purist.