APhotoContributor: Justice Can Be Poetic Even for a Philistine

You might be wondering who Tom Petters is and what relevance he might have to you, a reader of a photoblog. He was CEO of Petters Group Worldwide, but, to the community of Polaroid artists, he is known and will be remembered as the man responsible for killing Polaroid film types. He bought the ailing and failing Polaroid company because he coveted its logo, a design nurtured and attended by Paul Giambara for thirty-some years. We lost an American legacy of culture and an international legacy in photography because arrogant Petters wanted to peddle cheap digital goods and saw another man's life work as a milestone to earning his quick buck. For Giambara, it was personal. For the rest of us, it meant we would bid farewell to a staple of American culture not less prominent than apple pie, Polaroid Instant Film.

Petters' uncouth disregard for an artistic community that relied on Polaroid film types brought, of course, sorrow and suffering to the photographers who loved the media. While Polaroid photographers are not likely to get their beloved film types back, they can, at the very least, find some amusement in the events that have unfolded recently. As it turns out, Tom Petters, who was seen as a possible fugitive because of some incriminating conversations on tape, was jailed so that he might face the charges of fraud recently brought against him. This came after the feds raided the Petters Group HQ and searched his home. I don't ordinarily take pleasure in another person's misfortune, but you will have to forgive me while I do my happy dance.

Glenn Stubbe from the Star Tribune gets all the credits for bringing to us this particularly sinister portrait of the man behind Polaroid Petters Group.

After you've enjoyed the unrelated (yet poetic) justice meted out to Petters during the course of the recent events, visit Save Polaroid to join forces with others who wish to preserve a legacy in the history of photography!

Elinor