Saturday, December 27, 2008

First Journal Entry: Today's Purchase and Polaroid Tattoos

So this will be a fairly long entry because it is the first time I'm making a daily journal-type post. Up 'till now I have only been posting the Picturecrossing pictures and a few of the ideas I've had, but I've been thinking for a while about just going ahead and making this a regular blog and post entries about the cameras I buy or other Polaroid related things that happen on a day to day basis because it really does seem to be taking over my life.

Today I stopped at the Salvation Army Thrift Store on Ridge Road in Port Richey and saw three Polaroids there for sale at like $2.99 each but I already had several of each of them so I didn't buy them. (OneStep Close-Up, Sun 600 LMS, and a One Step Flash- I think). But while I was browsing them you won't believe what happened... I saw a girl walking by who had a Polaroid Camera tattoo on the back of her arm. Of course I had to talk to her and find out about the tats. Her name was Stephanie Powell and she is a fashion designer in LA who was home for Christmas. She told me she is always shooting Polaroids, that's why she chose to get the tats. I'll be photographing her tomorrow morning before she goes back to LA so I plan to load the photos on my next post.
While I was shopping there I bid on and won some Polaroid Type 88 film I'd been watching on eBay (using my iPhone). Four boxes for $45.00 + $10.oo shipping making them about $13.75 each. It expired in 2005 but I'm really loving the square format peel apart cameras like my red Electric Zip.


Next stop for the day was at Goodwill on US 19 in Port Richey. The first thing I saw there was a Colorpack IV (1969-1971), which I don't have, in the case with a bunch of extras, but it was priced at like $15.00 and it was not in very good shape with some serious corrosion on the batteries.
Then I saw this cool little "Spartus" camera in the original box.
It is an old 127 film camera that was in pretty good condition but was like $8.00 so I didn't bother with it. (Shot this image with my iPhone)

But what I almost missed in the same case with it was one of those old light brown leather Polaroid cases which contained a really nice Model J66 in the original case with a bunch of flash bulbs and documentation for just $10. It was in really great shape or I wouldn't have bought it because it takes the old roll film which of course is not available in usable condition, making this camera just a nice addition to the collection I have now decided to put on top of my book shelves.




When I got home I was feeling great about my purchases and finally got brave enough to try out the new Holgaroid camera I'd purchased, especially since I just won 4 more boxes of film that can be used in it. So I took out a box of my Polaroid Viva film (color ISO 125), that I'd paid about $22.00 a pack for a few weeks ago. I'd found a great deal on Craig's List of a Holga 120 SF camera with a Polaroid back for Type 80 film AND 5 boxes of Polaroid 85 Positive/Negative film (ISO 80). Got all this for $110 including shipping, back a few weeks ago.
So I loaded up a pack of Viva and took my wife Linda outside to test it out. My first try (on the left), setting the lens to the closest setting (head & shoulders) was pretty blurry so I got a bit closer - about 3.5 feet now and the result was a bit better but still blurry. I have heard that some kind of adapter lens is supposed to be used when using the Polaroid back but I don't seem to have one so perhaps that is why it is still not in focus. If you know anything about this please contact me so I can figure it out. The exposures were not too bad in bright sunlight so I think this will be quite challenging, but fun!

Tomorrow I plan to photograph Stephanie and her Polaroid tattoos...

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

PX No. 65


CAMERA: Polaroid Colorpack II

FILM: Polaroid ID-UV (expired)

DATE: 5/24/08
LOCATION: Vacant Storefront
PX No. 65 (CP No. 3)
I'd been wanting to shoot this boarded-up building for quite a while and finally took the time to stop and make some prints. This long-vacant building looks like it used to be a K-Mart or Wal-Mart but obviously hasn't been occupied for several years. It is located in the 2400 block of Commercial Way, (US Hwy 19) in Spring Hill, Florida. I stood on the back bumper of my Suzuki Samurai to try and line it up correctly. There are a few other shots of this bldg. CP No. 5, and PX No. 66, which as of this posting has not been left anywhere yet.

PX No. 65 was left on August 1, 2008 just below the elevator buttons of the 37th floor of the Sheraton Hotel in downtown New Orleans, LA. My mother, Karen Rothstein, left it there while staying there on a train trip while volunteering for the National Parks Service. She won $5.00 at the casino that night...

I got an email from Kat Painter on 8/8/08 saying they found it and would "send it somewhere interesting." I hope they'll add a comment here about their thoughts... Let's see where it ends up...

Saturday, August 2, 2008

PX No. 36


CAMERA: Fuji Instax 200
FILM: Fuji Instax Wide Format

DATE: 4/18/08
LOCATION: Vacant Steakhouse
PX No. 36 (FX No. 18)
This shot is a detail of the side of an abandoned building that used to be a steakhouse. I took several pictures at this location. It took me quite a bit of time to find a good composition here even though it looked like a great place for pictures.

This picture was left on 4/21/08 on a lightpost in the parking lot of a movie theater just around the corner from the spot where it was shot.
Linda and I went to see a movie there quite a few weeks later and the picture was still there, but then it was gone the next time we were there.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

PX No. 30


CAMERA: Fuji Instax 200
FILM: Fuji Instax Wide Format
DATE: 4/11/08
LOCATION: "Picture House"- Spring Hill, Florida
PX No. 30 (FX No. 4)

This shot is a detail of the side of an abandoned building called "The Picture House" by locals. It is located on US. Hwy 41 near the intersection of Spring Hill Drive in Spring Hill, Florida. This building had been a roadside art gallery of sorts for may years but had been abandoned for quite some time. There were "Highwaymen" style landscape paintings in panels all over the building, which had obviously been housing the homeless for a while. After shooting this, I mentioned this building to a colleague, Times columnist Dan DeWitt , he did some research and was contacted about it just before it was to be demolished. He learned that the paintings were said to have been done by a white man called "Bard" from Kentucky and had seen that signature on one panel. We arrived just minutes before it was destroyed and I was allowed to make some hi-rez digital photographs of some of the panels before the bulldozers demolished it. I even took a brick from the rubble and am keeping it on my desk with Dan's Article from The Times. A CVS is planned for the property. Other pix of this building: FX No. 5 & FX No. 6.


This print was left on 6/27/08 on a public bulletin board in front of the main library of University of Florida in Gainesville. There were months of remains of fliers and posters making a nice collage including a shot of Alberto Gonzalez. I expected to "cross" this picture with the image of the bulletin board (PX No. 92), (see also SX No. 28) but now that the building's been torn down, I'm not sure where I'll leave PX No. 92.

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PX No. 24



CAMERA: Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 100

FILM: Fuji FP3000BSS
DATE: 4/2/08
LOCATION: Ruth Eckerd hall - Clearwater, Florida
PX No. 24 (LC No. 42) is another shot at from Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. The building was designed by Taliesin Associated Architects, led by William Wesley Peters, the apprentice to and protegé of Frank Lloyd Wright.
This frame shows the bench and wall in front of the box office. I really like the shadows in this shot.

I left this picture on 5/20/08 in the valet stand just in front of the lobby. I felt like I was getting some strange looks from the box office staff and there were security cameras everywhere. I was sure someone was going to come out and tell me to leave but they never did. I also left PX No. 54 the same day actually in a detail from this picture.

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Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The SX-70 ND Filter solution!

OK - Here are FOUR Options I'm offering for sale. (PHOTOS BELOW)

Each of these are a perfect option for those of you not wanting to spend a hundred dollars to send your precious SX-70 off to someone who will tear her apart to try to modify it for 600 film. Or trying to attach those flimsy ND film filters to each film pack - only to have it spit out half the time.

You just attach the filter to the flash holder and shoot away. Then just take it off when you're done. It's that simple.

Filter#1 =$ 45.00 - Polaroid SX-70 Accessory Holder with hand-cut ND4 plexiglass filter.
(This is subject to me having purchase access to the accessory holder at a reasonable price)

Filter #2 = $26.00 - Just the ND4 plexiglass filter, hand-cut and sanded to fit the Polaroid SX-70 accessory holder. (You supply the holder)

Filter #3 - $30.00 - This is a hand made accessory holder (using aluminum and electrical tape) with the ND4 Plexiglass filter cut and sanded to fit.

Filter #4 $15.00 - The same hand made accessory holder with a thin ND film instead of a Plexiglass filter. (I only have 4 of these)

(Please do not fool yourself into believing that my hand made accessory holder is going to be some precise, machine-tooled beauty. I'm by no means an engineer of any sort. But this is a simple and cheap, if ugly and flimsy, solution.


FILTER #1 ( I realize it says ND8 - but it will be ND4)

FILTER #4 (click to enlarge)

eMail (lance@lancephoto.com) or Flickr Mail me for info or to order. PayPal is preferred but I can also accept Money Orders. I am custom making these so please allow at least 5 days for production time before they are shipped.
Peace - Lance

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

SX-70 ND Filter Solution

Ok so I got fed up with trying to figure out how to attach one of those pack filters and decided to use the perfect accessory holder already produced by Polaroid.

I am using the Polaroid SX-70 Accessory Holder

And a flat square Neutral Density Filter like the Cokin style.

Even when very carefully trying to cut the filter in to 4 small pieces, I destroyed the first quarter, but the second try came out almost perfect and after a bit of sanding fit right into the accessory holder.



Please let me know if you are interested in purchasing one of these and I'll figure out how much it will cost to produce them.

Here's a photo taken with the filter on.
Feel free to let me know what you think...
Peace - Lance

Monday, May 12, 2008

PX No. 17

CAMERA: Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 100
FILM: Polaroid 690
DATE: 3/26/08
LOCATION: Channel District - Tampa, Florida
PX No. 17 (LC No. 32) is another shot from the Channel District in Downtown Tampa. It was shot with several other images that day. This is the second-to-last image that has the "lancephoto.com/photocrossing" signature (PX No. 18 does too). I shot this image while waiting for a sandwich at a Caribbean restaurant (can't recall the name but they have awesome food!) near the corner of 0f Channelside Drive and Kennedy.
I really liked the red doors in contrast to the expansive white wall. This is the "Artists Unlimited Incorporated" building. I don't know much about them and the building seemed to have been closed for a while...
After I ate my sandwich I left the photograph taped to the wall near where it was shot on the same day.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

PX No. 21


CAMERA: Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 100
FILM: Fuji FP3000B
DATE: 4/2/08
LOCATION: Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, Florida
PX No. 21 is another shot from Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. The building was designed by Taliesin Associated Architects, led by William Wesley Peters, the apprentice to and protegé of Frank Lloyd Wright.
This shot is of the main stairwell. It was very challenging trying to get it to line up the way I wanted it. I shot several images of this magnificent staircase including a color Sun 660 shot (PX No. 21) and two more B&W shots (LC No.36 and LC No. 41)

PX No. 21 was left on 4/4/08 in a bus stop in north Tampa on Northdale Blvd near the intersection of Dale Mabry. I was on my way to meet a bride (Heidi Hohmann) at her home to do some shooting before her wedding.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

PX No. 22

CAMERA: Polaroid Sun 660
FILM: Polaroid 600
DATE: 4/2/08
LOCATION: Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, Florida
PX No. 22 is another shot from Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. The building was designed by Taliesin Associated Architects, led by William Wesley Peters, the apprentice to and protegé of Frank Lloyd Wright.
This is a beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright - style door. I had some difficulty shooting it the way I wanted to because of the myriad reflections but this one came out ok.

On Saturday, 4/5/08 I left this one at Tampa General Hospital (along with PX No. 27). This image was left on the ground floor just under a lamp and just across from the cafeteria. I'm sure dozens of people walked right past it before some administrator noticed it and pulled it down to drop it in the rubbish bin. Though the halls were full of some fairly good modern art, I wonder how many people even look at the art that is hung there intentionally? I appreciated it but I suppose many people just ignore it as I ignore bad motel paintings.

PX No. 42



CAMERA: Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 100
FILM: Fuji FP100C
DATE: 4/26/08
LOCATION: Highway 98 North of Brooksville, FL
PX No. 42 was shot using my Polaroid Land Camera Auto 100. This shot of a dilapidated farm house, was taken on the day I decided to leave some pictures in corresponding locations and so it corresponds with PX No. 35 of a stack of red palates behind the Home Depot in Port Richey. So this picture was actually left on the stack of palates. It took me a while to get back to the location but I finally did and it was left on 5/6/08.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

PX No. 4


CAMERA: Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 100
FILM: Fuji FP100 B&W
DATE: 3/19/08
LOCATION: My Home on Leeside Isle in Hudson, FL
PX No. 4 was shot while I was still having shutter and light leak problems. I thought I could get my cat Hobbes to stay still in his cat bed but as you can see I was incorrect. Hobbes is one of my favorite test subjects. I like the movement in this image.

I left it on 3/24/08 on an end table at the Starbucks in Brooksville, FL on Highway 50 near the Suncoast Parkway. I have already left another photo at this location (PX No. 18) and that makes nearly 40 pictures I have left at random locations and still, no one has contacted me to say they have found one. I don't know what that says about my idea or about the lack of value that photographs have come to garner. I suspect that most of my pictures have found their end in a trash can. Some janitor or clean-up person picked it up as litter and assumed someone left it as trash or by accident. That reminds me of what my wife Linda said on the first day I told her of my plans. "Oh, so not only are you littering, but you're defacing public property as well."

Somehow that seems to make this project even more meaningful, that I'm leaving the pictures, that I value so much, knowing that they will likely end up being trashed. That will make the ones that are actually found (if any) even more vital.


PX No. 10

CAMERA: Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 100
FILM: Polaroid 690 Color
DATE: 3/21/08
LOCATION: Channel District, Tampa
PX No. 10 was shot in one of my favorite locations, the Channel District in Downtown Tampa. This was just across from the District Designs store. The afternoon shadows are great everywhere you look. I wish I could live in one of the lofts in this neighborhood. It is very Deco. There are many other pictures from this area and probably many more to come.

I left this one near the Port of Tampa just outside the Jeoffrey's Coffee shop at Channelside, on the same day, just before my shoot at The Sweatshop.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

PX No. 35

CAMERA: Fuji Instax 200
FILM: Fujicolor Instax Wide
DATE: 4/18/08
LOCATION: Behind Home Depot in Port Richey, FL
PX No. 35 was shot using the Fuji Instax 200 camera along with several other shots on this date (FX No 15 & PX No. 34 among others). I'm looking forward to getting the Instax 500 that I've ordered from PaparazziAlex on Flickr.com. It is supposed to have a much closer focusing distance that might have made this a better photo.
In any case, I like the red in this image showing a stack of wooden palates behind the Home Depot.

I left this photo at an abandoned, dilapidated farm house on Highway 98 North of Brooksville, FL, just South of the Suncoast Parkway today (4/26/08). I'd been on assignment for The Times, shooting an RC Airshow nearby. And this gave me a pretty interesting idea.
I'd actually stopped to make some pictures of the farmhouse (PX No. 42) and didn't decide until after shooting that I would leave a picture there on the post that was an integral part of the other picture. This sprouted the idea of leaving the farmhouse picture (PX No. 42) on the stack of palates behind Home Depot, thereby linking the two locations and pictures. The palates are in front of the farmhouse and the farmhouse will be on the palates about 50 miles away in another city (when I next get the chance to pass by there).



Friday, April 25, 2008

PX No. 3

Camera: Polaroid Sun 660
Film: Polaroid 600
PX No. 3 is the first photograph I actually wrote "Photocrossing" on. The first two I just put my email address on and they were not numbered, nor did I photograph them, though I have similar pictures from the shoot. I had made a web page as an extension of my LANCEPHOTO.COM domain, before I purchased the "picturecrossing.com" domain.

This image was made around the corner from the historic Tampa Theatre in Downtown Tampa, Florida. It was actually an accidental shot that I made while shooting one of my City Trees pictures.

This shot was left on Polk Street taped to an old, empty frame for movie advertisements as you can see below.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

PX No. 39


PX No. 39 (aka LC 52) was shot on 4/18/08 with my Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 100 using Polaroid 400 B&W film.
This shot was made at a vacant building on US Hwy 19 in Port Richey, FL at the intersection of Cinema Drive. The building used to be a steak house but has been abandoned for a few years now I think.

I made a few other pictures at this location including LC No. 53, PX No. 36 and PX No. 38.

I like the shadows, though the clouds kept blocking the sun causing the shadows to vanish so I had to wait a while for the good shadows to return. I also like the natural element of the leaf and the screws in the brick. You don't often see screws in bricks...
Obviously there was some kind of emulsion glitch in the bottom left corner, but that's what makes Polaroids so fun, (and frustrating) there's always an element of random uniqueness.

I left this picture in an ornamental box at a Michael's craft store on Highway 50 in Brooksville, Florida on Saturday 4/19/08.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

PX No. 25

CAMERA: Polaroid Sun 660
FILM: Polaroid 600
DATE: 4/2/08
LOCATION: Ruth Eckerd hall - Clearwater, Florida

PX No. 25 (S6 No.53) is another shot from Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. I found this wall with the word "WALL" on it. (It actually says "Wall of Stars" but I like it better with just WALL) I have a similar one from a slightly different angle available on my website: http://www.picturecrossing.com
This picture was left (appropriately) on a wall in the stairwell of the main library at University of South Florida on 4/5/08.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

PX No. 32

PX No. 32 is one of the first pictures I took with my new Fuji Instax 200 camera. These wild flowers are growing in vast tracts all over the sides of the highways here in West Central Florida. It was shot on 4/11/08 off the side of the road at the intersection of US Hwy 41 and County Line Road between Pasco and Hernando Counties near Masaryktown.
I left this picture in an instant photo booth at the Gulf View Square Mall in Port Richey on 4/14/08.


Monday, April 14, 2008

PX No. 26

PX No. 26 was shot with my Polaroid Sun 660 on 4/3/08. There was this amazing cloud reflecting the brilliant orange light from the setting sun and I photographed it as it passed by my neighbor's roof.

A similar image is available for sale (S6 No. 60)

You can see the other pictures on my website:
http://www.picturecrossing.com

This instant print was left in a Kasimir Malevich book at the main Library of the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. on 4/5/08.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

PX No. 29

PX No. 29

This image was taken with my Sun 660 using Polaroid 600 film. It was shot on Saturday, 4/5/08 in front of the University of South Florida Library. This green awning leads into the vending machine area. There was an interesting sticker places in the corner of the awning, of a woman flying or swimming. I love when there are little grounding elements within the abstract image. Like the little bird in my previous post. (PX No. 28).


So I left this picture right underneath the awning on an empty box in the bank of newspaper dispensers.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

PX No. 28


PX No. 28

I was very pleased with this Sun 660 picture taken on Saturday, 4/5/08, in the parking garage at Tampa General Hospital. Each level is marked by a different color so you can remember where you parked. So this is the space between the red and green levels.
I shot another picture (S6 No. 65 is available for purchase) from this staircase showing a diagonal shape against the red background. As I was shooting it a little bird landed on the edge and helped make it a perfect frame.




PX No. 28 was left in a book "Mondrian : Colour Structure & Symbolism" by Hans Locher, at the main library of University of South Florida in Tampa on the same day. I thought it would be interesting to place it next to one of his paintings that was of a similar structure. Now we'll see how long before someone actually checks out this book.
I also left another picture there (PX No. 26) in a Kasmir Malevich book.