So I was clicking around the Internet, and came across this video created in 1972 by Charles and Ray Eames, explaining how the Polaroid Instant Camera works.
I'm always trying to find ways to explain new technology to people, so it got me thinking.
Nowadays, the average Joe might just call it "an instant camera." When explaining what it does, he'd say, "You point the camera, push a button, and a picture comes out. It's pretty cool."
But I guess back then, this stuff was so amazing and new that they were super-duper excited about the technology. So this is how the voice in the video explained it:
"A compact, folding, electronically controlled, motor-driven, single lens reflex camera, capable of focusing from infinity down to 10 inches has been developed to exploit integral, self-processing film units which, when exposed, are automatically ejected from the camera, with no parts to peel or discard and whose final images emerge without timing, in daylight, where the viewer can see them materialize within the same transparent, protective plastic cover, through which the film was originally exposed."
Now, I know that when you market new, breakthrough technology, things are different, and you're probably talking to all those "early adopters" and stuff.
Still though, I wonder how many of us in the business over-complexificate things, because we're salivating over our own technology.
Note: I found the link to this video over at Chris Lake's photography blog. I wholeheartedly agree when he says, "It may seem dated or hokey to some, but I found it to be rather elegant and even poetic (especially toward the end)." It's a great movie.
