Hasta La Ideas

Beleaguered Polaroid, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last December, is finding that selling its assets is anything but instant. Its latest proposed sale—for $56.3 million to two liquidation firms—was nixed in bankruptcy court yesterday after a rival bidder filed papers requesting that the auction be reopened—again. Private equity firm Patriarch Partners, which was previously chosen to buy Polaroid before a snafu derailed the deal last month, requested the chance to up its offer, which it argues is better because it’s not a brand-devaluing liquidation scheme that would fire Polaroid employees and halt innovation at the 72-year-old company. Another auction is set for Thursday.

Meanwhile, longtime Polaroid fans such as artist Chuck Close and photographer Elsa Dorfman are still coming to grips with last year’s announcement that Polaroid was discontinuing almost all of its instant film products. In creating the giant, soulful painted portraits for which he is best known, Close often works from photographs taken by the 20×24 Polaroid camera that he began using in the ’70s. “There’s so much more information embedded in it than can be seen with the naked eye—unbelievable detail and a real physicality,” he told Art & Antiques recently. “It is a unique product.” And a tricky one. Artist and photographer John Reuter describes instant photography as “part-miracle and part-voodoo, besides science. A lot can influence it and make it go wrong.”

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Want to see the floor of Jackson Pollock‘s studio? Care to seek inspiration from a WPA mural of oyster fishermen? Curious as to what children were crazy lucky enough to brave Disneyland’s brain-jarring teacup ride when the park first opened in 1955? These photos and approximately seven million more are now just a click away on LIFE.com, which launched today. The joint venture between Time and Getty Images aims to “create the most comprehensive photo experience available online,” with everything from archival images from 1850 to constantly added Getty photos of the latest celebrity gala and/or adoption crusade.

But LIFE.com is much more than shimmering Kennedys. The site includes curated galleries of images on topics that range from the sublime (“Spaghetti“) to the ridiculous (“Rethink Democracy with Castles“), while homepage features take you to photos you probably wouldn’t have otherwise sought out (the “Would you Rather…?” section asks you to choose between seeing, for example, “a tapir with a prehensile nose or Marilyn Monroe touching her toes”). You can rate, share, and link to LIFE.com images, and along the lines of iTunes’ celebrity playlists, the site is recruiting big name guest editors. First up: Ellen DeGeneres, who helped to select “LIFE.com’s 6 cutest dogs,” including this 1949 shot of a charming terrier named Asta who had an unhealthy relationship with vacuum cleaners.

(Photo: W. Eugene Smith/LIFE ©Time Inc.)

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Good news in tough times: Getty Images is expanding its grants program, which since 2005 has awarded professional photojournalists and students with cash and support for editorial photography projects. The imagery giant, which last summer was acquired by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman, has just announced Getty Images Grants for Good, which will award two photographers $15,000 each “to cover costs associated with creating compelling imagery to raise awareness about the issues and work of a non-profit they admire.”

The first two Grants for Good recipients will be announced in June at the Cannes Advertising Festival, with the photographers’ resulting work showcased on Getty’s website and used by the non-profit. Judges for the new competition will include ICP curator Christopher Phillips and Lesley Martin, editor and publisher of Aperture. “These grants enable more photographers to produce extraordinary imagery for important causes, supporting non-profits, NGO’s, professional associations, and charities,” said Andrew Saunders, Getty’s vice president of imagery, in a statement issued by the company. Care to apply? Get to work on assembling a short written proposal outlining your shoot plan, a supporting portfolio, a CV/resume, a profile of the non-profit with whom you will partner, and a statement of the organization’s support for the application.” You have until April 15.

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