Nerding Out

Earlier this month, the Las Vegas Camera Club christened it's grand opening with an appearance by the Impossible Project airstream. What? Basically, I had a Polaroid boner all weekend long.



Last year, I procured three Polaroid cameras: a Sun 600, a Onestep and a Spectra System from various thrift shops at very thrifty prices. I had no idea if any of them were functioning, so after awkward moseying between the LVCC and the airstream, Larry from the Impossible Project hooked me up with a tutorial and an empty 600 film cartridge for the future.


After he took this sassy Spectra shot of Lena, Rach and I, Larry showed us how the Instant Lab worked. It is a fun gadget, however it is also out of my second-hand store budget.


A couple of days later, I continued to stalk the Silver Shade Tour at the Linq. I had every intention of buying one or two packs of Spectra film, but the Fotobar did not carry any, and the airstream was not selling. Geoff from the LVCC pulled some strings with the IP guys and hooked me up. And in return, I repay the photography gods with the worst pictures ever.













Maybe it is the Las Vegas heat, maybe I do not know what I am doing - actually, I know that I do not know what I am doing. Larry suggested that I tote around a sandwich bag-sized cooler with an ice pack for developing. Before the airstream rolled into town, I had emailed the LVCC about the possibility of purchasing a frog tongue to shade the pictures as they ejected. The cooler will be my next experiment. I suppose I could have actually done the experiment, but I have become the world's worst blogger within the last four years.



Christmas came early in the form of a SX-70 currently on layaway at the antique mall. It was priced at $49 and I could not pass it up. The above photo is what it looks like, but with a few scratches on the leather and no strap. Upon amateur inspection, the rollers appeared clean and the viewfinder functioning. I observed no tears in the bellows, but an expired cartridge of film inside. I assume the cartridge is expired since the shutter would not fire due to a dead battery. Fingers, eyes, toes and ovaries crossed that the shutter is not damaged. Either way, the camera is still a good deal at $49. Currently on Craigslist, they are being priced between $80 and $400.



In other news, we took a quick day trip to the state line to play the California Lottery. We did not win, but we did ride the roller coaster and log ride at Buffalo Bill's.



These are a few double exposures of the High Roller during the day time taken with the Instax90. I have zero intentions of riding the observation wheel.



And these are a couple of long exposures in my hood. A car of dudebros attempted to make some type of prostitute joke as Lena and I waited at the corner en route to Target. It turned out to be a big 'ol failure as neither of us look like ladies of the night. I would like to see the same line used on one of the regular Summerlin crack heads during daylight and not from the safety of a moving vehicle.