"The process must be concealed from - non-existent for - the photographer, who by definition need think of the art in the taking and not in the making photographs... In short, all that should be necessary to get a good picture is to take a good picture." -- Inventor and scientist Edwin Land (5/7/1909 - 3/1/1991), famous for inventing the Polaroid instant camera in 1947. His camera (initially called the Land Camera) revolutionized personal photography, allowing pictures to be developed in 60 seconds or less, and requiring no film lab developer.
After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968, Land's Polaroid Corporation became a leader in affirmative action. In the early 1970s, he landed on Richard Nixon's "enemies list" after resigning from a government advisory committee in protest of the Watergate scandal. Land had another quote that, given the advent of the cell phone camera, was ironic:
"Someone is going to make your product obsolete. Make sure it's you."
(photo: Land with his SX-70 camera. Joyce Dopkeen, Getty Images)
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