"The Camera Does the Rest has a richness of detail and language. Buse turns to myriad unconventional but vivid sources in his effort to resurrect just what it felt like to make, pose for, and view Polaroid images. This experience of instant photography is his true focus, and he addresses it from multiple, new, persuasive perspectives. In so doing, he makes the magic of the Polaroid moment vivid for those readers for whom that era is now a faint memory and for those readers too young to have experienced it. To my knowledge, the book has no peers in evoking the lost moments of Polaroid photography. While this alone makes it a mighty contribution to the study of visual culture, I would suggest that, in addition, the archeological approach Buse takes to his topic serves as an excellent model for scholars seeking in its archaeological approach, how to recuperate the novelty experienced when now familiar technologies were once new."
-- "Technology and Culture"
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The Camera Does the Rest is a fascinating study of a unique product and the serious and quirky uses it saw. It will interest camera buffs or those that enjoy an unusual story."
-- "Galveston County Daily News"
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The Camera Does the Rest is a well-researched and thorough history of Polaroid photography, covering both the technical aspects of the cameras and their film, and the influence of this technology on society. It's generously illustrated but is by no means a coffee-table book. Instead, it's a serious history and analysis of the Polaroid phenomenon, and each illustration is included to make some point."
-- "PopMatters"
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The Camera Does the Rest is the best kind of cultural study, and refreshingly jargon-free. Buse steers a course between the mockers and admirers, and brings concision, shape and clarity to a complex subject through his skillful plundering of the enormous Polaroid archive in Harvard Business School's Baker Library. This well-illustrated, handsomely produced book is rich in facts, speculation, and anecdotes."-- "Times Literary Supplement"
"
The Camera Does the Rest takes a deep dive into Polaroid's corporate archives to reveal the company's transformative influence on the photographic process. This book covers all of the cultural perceptions and scientific discoveries that made Polaroid something very special and leaves us with a clear sense of its lost pleasures, too. For Buse, Polaroid is not just an object of nostalgia, it is a catalyst undeniably linked to the massive changes we've seen in social rituals and imaging technology in our lifetime."-- "American Photo"
"As Buse argues in his smart and engaging
The Camera Does the Rest: How Polaroid Changed Photography, amateur picture taking was originally conceived of as 'a form of play'....Looking at a Polaroid is unlike looking at any other picture because a Polaroid has that which a photograph is supposed to lack: an aura. Each shot is singular, unrepeatable; each life, a story; each image, a measure of hungry, sucking time."-- "Harper's"
"Buse gives us an account of the experience of the Polaroid camera and an extended analysis of its distinctive photos. Most striking is how he traces its presence in novels, advertisements, and films, proving its iconic status in our culture despite its recent demise.
The Camera Does the Rest will be of interest to anyone involved in photography, from students to visual and cultural study scholars to members of camera clubs."-- "Geoffrey Batchen, author of Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance"
"Critic and theorist Buse's fine examination of the cultural history of Polaroid technology,
The Camera Does the Rest, considers the societal forces at work as the company succeeded and failed, from the launch of its first camera in 1948 to its existence today. Scholarly and philosophical, the book is an intriguing read, although not a casual one. Buse's answers offer insights into our interactions with technologies over time, as well as new ways of understanding the evolution of contemporary shutterbugs."-- "American Scientist"
"In
The Camera Does the Rest, Buse brings his gift for in-depth reporting and insightful commentary to this convincing argument on the cultural and social impact of the Polaroid brand. Buse helps us answer the questions on the minds of many ever since 2008 when the company ceased production on instant cameras and film. What was Polaroid? Was it the magnum opus of a brilliant inventor? The results of decades of hard work by a team of experts? A mere toy? A party camera? A covert device for making home pornography? An invitation to artists to experiment? A sophisticated tool for professional photographers? A gateway to the world of digital imaging? A camera for the masses to produce trillions of snapshots? As Buse shows, the answer to each of these questions is a resounding YES."-- "Mary-Kay Lombino, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center"
