For Immediate Release: March 20, 2010

With Supplies of Polaroid Film Dwindling Worldwide,
The Impossible Project Graciously Provided Two Packs to
Award-Winning Bay Area Dog Photographer Jesse Freidin.
Inspired by Lady Gaga Fashion
“The Doggie Gaga Project” is a Viral Hit

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Inspired by Polaroid’s newest spokesperson, Lady Gaga, award-winning Bay Area dog photographer Jesse Freidin – with the help of The Impossible Project (TIP) – created The Doggie Gaga Project, which has become a viral sensation.  Freidin dressed his canine models in five of Lady Gaga’s most celebrated outfits, and photographed them using two packs of Polaroid film from the last remaining supply in the world.  The resulting photos went online the next morning, and within three days, have been tweeted by Perez Hilton, linked online by Entertainment Weekly, MTV, TMZ, and The Sundance Channel, and on 3/18/10 it was featured on ABC’s Live! with Regis & Kelly.  To view all the images please visit www.jessefreidin.com or http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Francisco-CA/Jesse-Freidin-Photographer/97942918610.

Freidin proposed his idea for The Doggie Gaga Project to Netherland-based Impossible Project who has taken on the impossible: to re-invent and re-start production of analog integral film for vintage Polaroid cameras.  They graciously donated two packs of original Polaroid film (20 prints total).  Freidin and his small team went to work creating the custom-made, Gaga-inspired canine fashions for a Boston Terrier, a Mexican Hairless, a Shiba Inu, and two Pit Bulls.  Shooting in his San Francisco studio, Freidin employed a Horseman field camera with a Polaroid back using the increasingly rare T-669.  During the photo shoot, no animals were harmed – or even irritated.

More on Jesse Freidin:
Jesse Freidin, a traditional film photographer who characteristically photographs dog portraits with a Hasselblad, recently won Beast of the Bay’s 2010 award for “Best Dog Photographer.” With years of experience as a fine-art photographer and professional dog-handler, Freidin has a unique approach to animal photography that captures the deeply emotional tie that people have with their pets. As one of the last surviving traditional photographers in the Bay Area, he creates museum-quality black-and-white photographs with unbeatable richness and tone, that are produced, from start to finish, entirely by hand. His true passion for animals and loyalty to analog photography made it only natural that he would create “The Doggie Gaga Project.”

More on The Impossible Project:
By re-inventing a new analog integral film for vintage Polaroid cameras, The Impossible Project is saving analog instant photography.  They plan to release a new instant film for vintage Polaroid cameras in 2010.  The new licensee of the Polaroid® Brand – The Summit Global Group – will re-launch some of the most famous Polaroid Instant Cameras. Further details will be disclosed by TIP on Monday, March 22, 2010 at a press conference in NYC.  Please visithttp://www.the-impossible-project.com for more information.

In December 2008 Polaroid ceased production of its iconic instant film.  In early 2009, Impossible B.V. leased the former Polaroid production plant in Enschede, Netherlands, acquired the machinery, and engaged the most experienced team of Integral Film experts worldwide. The concrete aim is to re-invent and re-produce analog integral film for vintage Polaroid cameras.

The mission is therefore not to re-build Polaroid Integral film but to develop a new product with new characteristics, consisting of new optimized components, produced with a streamlined modern setup for an innovative and fresh analog material, sold under a new brand name that perfectly matches the global re-positioning of Integral Film. Polaroid is fully aware and supportive of this goal.

In the words of Edwin Land, the Inventor of Instant Photography, “Don’t undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.”

The Impossible Project’s Executive Director of Marketing and Business Development is Florian Kaps, who in 2001 championed the magic of analog photography as the leading manager of the Lomographic Society, developing their worldwide online community and shop platform. Since his childhood, Kaps has been attracted by the exercise of running in the opposite direction: he reacted to the digital revolution by founding a strictly analog company, establishing what is today’s biggest network of everything correlated to instant photography.

Lady Gaga was recently named creative director for a specialty line of Polaroid products.  Asked if he has met Lady Gaga, Freidin replied, “Not yet, but I’d love to. I hope she enjoys the pictures.”

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For more information, photos, or to set up interviews with Jesse Freidin please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Hasty at lynn@greengalactic.com or 213-840-1201.  To learn more about The Impossible Project please contact Marlene Kelnreiter at 212-219-3254 or marlene@the-impossible-project.com.