In short, Polaroid photos do not last. In the days before digital, they were “instant” in a very fun way. If you have polaroids you care about, get them scanned quickly.
This print is nearly gone. But I think you will be able to see what the scanner can still pull from my examples (below).
This first one is the scanned version, the scanner was able to pull up some of the photo. Notice the chimney, trees in the background and details of the snow. They are somewhat visible in this scanned version. If you are trying to place it, this is a big snow on my grandparents’ farm probably in the very late 1960's or early 1970's.
This second one is the scanned version, lightened.
This last version is what the photo actually looks like. This one was taken with my phone and is a more accurate view of what the photo looks like to the human eye. Notice the trees are not really visible. One has to squint to see the chimney. It looks like night or under deep water.
