About this project

Quick Abstract Below is a long winded reasoning behind this trip. I have read it and reread it several times to see if there was a way I could make it better. More robust, to truly show my backers and my possible backers what this project is about and really means to me. But not only me, to photography as a whole. We are at the end ladies and gents, the end of an era. The photographic medium so cherished by so many is being trampled out by the digital age. I realize it is progress and it is normal, but a part of me mourns for the impending loss. Large, Medium, and 35mm film photography still looks to have a long and meaningful life, but instant film is in its death throes. The instant gratification of watching intregal film develop and the anticipation of pulling a print away from the negative in packfilm, are things our children will read about history books. I think about this project and wonder if it could even be considered a possibility in a mere 5 years from now. Ever since my brush with cancer I have longed to give something of permanence back. Something to show that I was here and I made an effort. While technology and digital photography has its place, it just isn't the same. I don't want what I leave behind to be 1's and 0's housed in a soulless hard drive on my desk. I hope it is something tangible, something that transcends technology. With your contribution I hope it to be this project. Something to share, something to bridge me to all of you out there. Thanks for considering the Instant America Project, and if you are so inclined there is a long winded description of the project below for you to peruse. Background We stand here on a great precipice, a low setting sun moving towards twilight, the ultimate end of an era. Digital photography, while elevating photography, is slowly placing the death grip on analog instant films made popular by Polaroid over the years. The Instant America Project is an artistic pursuit to capture, share, and store a small sliver of America with a rapidly disappearing medium ... instant film.

When Edwin Land created instant film, I doubt he could have imagined how much people would come to love it. For 60 years after its inception, it was wildly successful, despite its often expensive cost. From the housewife to the professional, everyone made a little room for Polaroid in their lives.

I have oft relived the memories of moments shared by my family, long before I was born, through the Polaroid shots that remain. Even at 32 years old, I have a box of Polaroids of myself when I was young. Unlike digital, Polaroid has a "real" aspect to it. It's tangible, it can't be backed up in its original form and always unmarred by photo retouching software. It simply is what it is. The image came into existence the moment it was captured; each shot is a little slice of what life once was. When Polaroid announced its impending shut down of the instant film division in 2008, there was a universal cry that went out across the photographic world. Even those of us who use Fuji pack film were distraught because there are some things (eg. emulsion lifts) that it just doesn't do as well as the original Polaroid film. As time goes on, analog photography continues its decline, even Fuji has announced its 100b instant B/W film has been discontinued. As a result of the Polaroid Instant Film shut down, some companies put their remaining stock on clearance, while others raised prices to just south of insanity (and even a few points North of there). Nevertheless, the converts of the instant film cult made a rush to bolster their stocks before it was gone forever. Now, with The Impossible Project in full swing, there is a glimmer of hope for those of us who still cling to our instant film cameras. However, even with this silver lining, the end of an era is drawing nigh as digital photography continues its march towards the future. In the world of instant films, the heyday is long since passed, and things will never be the same. Its final glimmer of existence is nigh and we will be alive to witness its journey into that long goodnight. The Reasoning Behind the Project Earlier this year, I learned that there was a chance that I had testicular cancer. Even though I knew that cure rates were high, there is nothing in life more sobering than the knowledge that something might be killing you from the inside out. As I went through the medical tests to determine if that was the case, I decided to write a list of 100 Things To Do Before I Die. I made myself a promise that if I got out of the predicament unscathed, I would try my best to complete as many items on the list as possible. Some are whimsical, some serious, others are just foolhardy fodder for stories told by old men. As an artist, several of the items are Photography related ... #11 is taking a photo trip around America. (if you would like to read the entire list, it can be viewed here, feel free: http://docs.google.com/Doc...) And a promise is a promise.

As you might have guessed, I was given a clean bill of health. Now, with the Instant America Project, I hope to accomplish one or more of those goals in life, as well as attempt to capture tiny moments of America in glorious Polaroid/Fuji/Impossible images. Each image will be geotagged the old fashioned way ... with an archival grade pen. The resulting images will be scanned digitally each day and a select few will be uploaded to the Instant America Project's website ( http://www.instantamericaproject.com .. in progress ). Upon my return home, some will be framed, some professionally reprinted, and those destined for pledgers will be shipped out. The remaining original images will be signed and placed into longterm storage to protect them for future generations. After this is completed, a website will be set up to display all the images, and a book will be designed and assembled. The book will be shopped to publishers, and if it is not chosen for publication, the book will be self-published through Blurb (or comparable POD book company). A gallery showing may eventually become a reality as well. Permanent donation of the collection to a museum will occur within 5 years of completion. All updates will be posted to the Instant America Project's website as they occur. How It Works Pledged funds will be partly used to purchase the pack film needed for the project, due to the cost of Polaroid branded pack film I will primarily be using Fuji packfilms 3000B, 100C & 100B ( http://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/professional_photography/film/fujifilm_instant_films/index.html ). Polaroid 600 compatible artistic film will come from The Impossible Project ( http://www.the-impossible-project.com/ ). Original Polaroid 600 film will come from my own stash and purchased, where found, along the way. Initial computations estimate a minimum of 600 exposures. NOTE: All additional funds beyond the initial $2700 will be used to purchase additional exposures. So feel free to continue funding after the $2700 has been reached, the more shots the better!!

Remaining funds will pay for gas, the occasional hotel stay (I plan on camping some to increase funds available for the actual project and to get that great morning light) and food. The goal is to travel through at least 11 states in 12 days. The tentative track includes a loop that begins in Kentucky, goes through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and ending back in Kentucky. A 3179 mile trip through America's Heartland, the Rockies, the High Plains, the Desert, the Breadbasket, and the renowned Red Dirt roads of Oklahoma. The entire project will be completed by the beginning of Summer 2011. Cameras During the course of the project I will be using my own Polaroid cameras. They include a Land Camera Automatic 350, Land Camera Automatic 450, Land Camera Automatic 250, Polaroid Spirit 600, SX-70, Pronto! Sonar SX-70 One Step, and One Step 600. Pack film cameras have been converted to use modern lithium batteries and their Zeiss view finders (Made in West Germany!) have been enlarged. An additional Land Camera Automatic 250 is currently in the process of being converted to a fully manual 127mm pack film camera. If I locate the needed 127mm shutter in time this will also be a camera that is used in the project.

Lastly, regardless of the book publishing, 5% of any and all personal proceeds garnered from future endeavors related to this project will be donated to The American Child Photographers Charity Guild (http://www.acpcg.org/). The ACPCG, is a worthy non-profit organization devoted to taking portraits of terminal children and children in crisis for families in need. An emotionally difficult job, but a worthy one indeed.