Save Packfilm Travelog No. 8: No! But Yes!


JOIN DOC ON AN INSTANT ADVENTURE

Dear all,

please forgive the long silence, but the last hours have not been very easy for me.

Allow me to start this update with the 2 worst pictures I so far managed to squeeze out of this wonderful camera. These images are my 2 desperate attempts to at least create some real and tangible outcome of my meeting in Osaka yesterday.

 

The gentleman to the left is the wonderful high rank Fuji manager Mr. Sadahiro Fujibayashi, and on the right, you can hopefully see Mr. Shinichi Sano, from On and On, one of the most powerful instant photography distributors in Japan.

Well, please do not ask me in detail what exactly happened in this meeting, as most of the time the language switched to Japanese and most of the translated phrases sounded like "this most likely might maybe not even eventually be slightly possible" (which is at least much better than the clear statement I heard back then from Polaroid "This is impossible"). 

But to be as serious as I possibly can, my dear analog ladies and gentlemen:

NO! None of my 3 detailed proposals immediately created a promising reaction.

BUT YES! I have at least been promised that my proposals and my detailed presentation as well as this WONDERFUL and impressive list of signatures (which I printed out) will be passed on to the next level in Tokyo and that MAYBE I will receive feedback.

At least, that's better than nothing and I would not have expected a straight and simple YES even in my most positive dreams. BUT, to be completely honest, I'm frustrated right now as Jun and I have been waiting the whole day for the confirmation that my meeting at the Tokyo Office will be called on again (after being put on hold beginning of the week). By now the hope to have a chance to explain my proposals in front of the next level of FUJI management has gone.

Still, according to some super supportive FUJI insiders that I had the pleasure to meet here and also due to some Japanese press contacts, this must not be a final dead end street.

And honestly it feels like this was just the beginning and the warm up to be built around one big hope that these machines are still not destroyed. Even if I'm disappointed and tired right now, I do feel like we still have a chance and that this first attempt was not a complete failure but an important first step on a long journey that now turns out to be as difficult as we all have been afraid it would be.

I'm flying back home with a lot more insight of the more than delicate situation, with a deep freshly discovered love for packfilm and still an indestructible hope for the essential importance of keeping iconic creative materials like this one alive and even pass it on to our children.

If you could find the time and energy to stay with me, even if I could not yet really deliver any good results, I would be more than honored as only united we finally will make this happen. 

Yours truly, 
Doc

 

 

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