It has been a long time since I have posted here, and this particular post finds me missing and absent from my beloved photography for far too long. For a time I was very excited about analog photography and the return of peal apart instant film. I am still excited by it but find little time in my crowded life to spend time in that pursuit. Back in the day I had hoped for the success of new product being developed by an inventor named Bob Crowley. It is with Sadness that I announce that this afternoon, as I roamed around the internet, and looked at my long-neglected Blog that I learned that Mr. Crowley had passed away. He was far too young. His invention, New 55 could not overcome the significant hurdles of sufficient funding to gain enough critical mass to make it to efficient production and manufacturing. Up till then it was all a very boutique hands on "craft" process. To make product in quantity and retain quality would require equipment, supplies, and more industrial like processes to get to scale for which large sums of capital were required. However, this effort was not without a herculean effort by Bob and his team including Mr. Sam Hiser. New 55 and New 55 color were brilliant ideas that just were sadly not to be. This evening, I will drink a glass of bourbon to you Mr. Crowley and to the dream of bringing back instant large format film. His obituary is below. Cheers to you Mr. Crowley!!!
