The Impossible Project - formed to "re-invent and re-start production of analog INTEGRAL FILM for vintage Polaroid cameras" - may have accomplished just that.

The news late last year that Polaroid would cease production for good in 2009 was not the happy kind for fans of the instant film, who were likely relieved this week when the company announced that it will re-launch the Polaroid One Step Camera and commission the Impossible Project to develop and produce a limited edition of Polaroid^® branded Instant Films in 2010, starting with black and white film early in the year and color later on.

How do they plan to do this? Um, honestly, I have no idea, beyond their stated plan to make a more environmentally friendly, easier to manufacture instant film. If you'd like to try to figure it out where I have failed, go to the Impossible Project Web site, click on "7 Challenges", and "Team" (there are no direct links, sorry, and also, please, makers of the Web, don't do weird things with links!) and you will see that it's a much more detailed and scientific process than my abstract brain is capable for breaking down for you. Let's just say it involves diagrams and chemicals, and an all male (BOO!) team of engineers. Complicated.

I say good for them, aside from the all-male thing.

I haven't had a Polaroid camera for years, something that bothers me so I don't like to talk about it because I'm sensitive like that. I have not delved into the frightening (to me) world of online retailers to bid on one, frightened away primarily by the high cost of the rapidly dwindling supply of hoarded instant film, and my penchant for hitting the "buy" button whenever photographic equipment is involved without the budget to match. Plenty of people have been much more careful with their equipment and film supply, however, people like daily photo devotee Lori Hylan-Cho, who has been consistently posting her Polaroid work on Flickr. Lori has a way with signs. Check her out.

I learned about the wonderful work of "self-confessed Polaroid fanatic" Susannah Conway (@Photobird) through a tweet from storyteller Jen Lee, I believe. Check out Susannah's work on her blog, Ink on My Fingers. She is based in Bath, U.K., and teaches a photo course online called Unravelling.

A recent tweet from Susannah:

i don't think i have mentioned this in a while, but i freakin LOVE polaroids. Like, love with all my heart. Like, more than chocolate

That's love.

Aimee at Aimee's Petite Maison says "hurray for the Impossible Project."

I LOVE my Polaroid cameras, and can’t wait for the new film to come out so I can start using the medium once again. The idea of black and white instant film sounds amazing as well. And speaking of Polaroids, be sure to check out Polaroid Notes, a set of notecards which features a 2 photographs from my friend Jenny.

"Jenny" is Jenny Vorwaller, of the eponymous blog.

Chris Higgins at the Mental Floss blog wrote a nice post about the Polaroid return, with a link to a previous post about Jamie Livingston, a man who took a Polaroid a day, documenting his life up to and including his death from cancer. 

Briana at the Dizzy Pixie, who displayed her Polaroid work in previous posts, was happy to welcome it back.

Me, I cheat. One of my current photographic and iPhone app addictions is ShakeIt Photo, a ten-second short cut to what some people call "Fauxlaroids" and I would too if I could bring myself to do so. I'm going to try to get ahold of some film and a used real deal camera this time, but in the meantime I'm having a lot of fun with the next best digital thing.

Aimee, quoted above, is a ShakeIt fan, too.

And also, just because it’s fun and I love technology… there is an application for the iPhone that turns a photo that you take with the phone into a Polaroid style picture. It’s called Shake, after what we all do with the instant film. Of course, you don’t actually have to shake your Polaroids, but we all do it.
(No, the one at the top isn't real either, but you knew that, right?)

Laurie White writes at LaurieWrites, and posts way too many photos on Flickr.