Instant Love

*** PLEASE... Dear God read this before you submit 10 times in a panic. I get so many terrible spam comments on a daily basis that I have to moderate my comments here. If you post a comment, just wait a few minutes. It will get published soon. No need to keep trying. Just hang in there :) I promise. Some of you may or may not know that among other things, I make book trailers. I have made quite a few of them. Weird right?! Trailers. For books! Its an exciting age people. Just flow with it.I dont normally post about every book trailer I make because, well, I dont know why really... I just assume that people wouldnt appreciate it if I turned this site into my work portfolio, I barely post as it is. This last trailer I made for the new Chronicle Books release called Instant Love however was totally different, for a few reasons. How bout we take a look at the trailer first, and then we can get into all sorts of things... including giving away a copy of the book, and a chance to win a fully restored Polaroid Land Camera from LandCameras.comWe were lucky enough to get to use the song "Camera" by the band Rabbit for this trailer, it was the perfect tune for this piece, and for anyone that wants it, or wants to hear more, you can do so by clicking HERE. I was so excited when my friend Jen Altman asked me to make this trailer for her. I think I actually shouted "YES!" before she was even done asking me. I am completely madly in love with instant photography, ever since I purchased my Polaroid 600SE "The Goose" its been pretty much the first camera I grab to take family snapshots with. I have even used it at a wedding or two (which I will remind you, I totally dont shoot weddings). Jen was the reason that I started to look at instant photography in a serious way when I found her gorgeous site Nectar and Light. This was back in the Twitter days, when Twitter was still cool :) I followed her, and would come up with dumb reasons to say things to her. I finally broke through when I recommended and connected her with the best hair stylist in Brooklyn at the Parlour Brooklyn and they hit it off. And score! We were instant friends. Oh Twitter! And because of this book, I discovered two more of Jens friends who became photo inspirations as well, Amanda Gilligan, and Susannah Conway who also authored Instant Love with Jen. All three of them have poured themselves into this book, and its awesome, and I love it, and that is all I will say about that. Are you interested in winning a copy? Keep reading.A quick story about why I wanted to post this here, and to do a contest like this-- I am a tad sentimental, if you havent noticed from reading here. Ive been hanging onto my Nikon D300 for awhile because I shot Coles entire maternity series with it, and it was the camera that took Tessas first pictures. So I hang onto it. I love it. But when I think about handing it over to Tessa someday it makes me feel silly. Like why would she want some obsolete digital dinosaur? Cameras nowadays are obsolete after a couple years. Its just not the same as the days you were handed an old rangefinder, or some gem like your grandfathers Land Camera. That was one of the reasons I started shooting with my 600SE a bunch, so that when the time comes when it is passed on, there is some history attached to it. That camera will continue to take gorgeous photos for decades to come as long as people keep making film for it. It has a beautiful distinct look that cant be duplicated with a photoshop action. Are people going to pass down filters and actions to their kids-- "Here honey, this is what I would do to make all of our pictures look and feel like old Polaroid film." Can you imagine with all the photoshopping going on these days-- we will have to remember to write down our custom picture settings, and leave behind our processing secrets like an old recipe book. While I was making the trailer for Instant Love, and was at home editing away at it. Cole would watch every few hours, every few cuts, because when I work I constantly call her into my office and make her check what I am doing whenever I am making something new. "Cole, please come in here and tell me if this sucks!!" And so while she was watching, she got inspired when she heard Jens narration about "Grandfathers passing the cameras onto their sons, that pass them onto their daughters." Coles grandfather, her Gido, died last year, and his camera, an older model Polaroid Land Camera that he had used to take all the family photos with for years, the same camera her father grew up with, and took pictures of his family with, was found in a box, and given to Cole. One of the responsibilities Cole was given for her Gidos funeral was to dig through old photos and make photo collages of memories of his life, and many of the photos were taken with that Land Camera. So after seeing the trailer and getting to read the book, she was ready to get the camera up and running again, and start shooting with it. We have this incredible heirloom passed on, but it was not working as it should. It needed some love. So I remembered this really rad site called LandCameras.com and that they restore these cameras and make them work like brand new. Amazing. That camera is on its way to get some new life put back into it, and we cant wait to start shooting with it again. If you have an old camera that needs some love, check out the services they offer up HERE.So remembering all of this made me want to see if the owner of that site Cory, would maybe want to give one of these gorgeous cameras away to a reader here, along with a copy of Instant Love. A complete kit to get you started shooting instant film. For any of you that have been wanting to dive into shooting film again-- instant film is a superb way to get started. So here you go, here is your chance to win something right here at Pacing the Panic Room. I rarely ever do giveaways. You know this. But this was just too perfect. I wanted someone to win this prize from here. I am so excited to get to give this away. And I couldnt be more happy for Jen, Amanda, and Susannah. Congratulations on a gorgeous book, its going to help so many people.Read below for details on how to enter. and how to increase your chances to win.So here is the deal. The details to win an Elemental Land Camera from LandCameras.com and a copy of the book Instant Love...** You must live in the United States to win. Sorry rest of the world.** A winner will be picked by a random number generator one week from this posting. Thats one week from today people, so on May 23rd. I will pick a number in the morning and update this exact same post announcing the winner. (if I do not hear from the winner within 24 hours, a new winner will be selected using the random number generator as well.)** TO ENTER ONCE... you must leave a comment here in this post, please leave your name, and an email, or a link to your contact info to get a hold of you if you win.**TO ENTER THREE TIMES... yes you can enter three times, leave three comments and increase your chances to win, BUT ONLY by embedding the Instant Love trailer in a post on your blog and linking to this contest, or on your facebook wall, and spread the news about the new book Instant Love. So to enter when you leave your three comments here, along with your name, and your contact info, please provide a link to your post with the trailer for Instant Love. Just copy and paste the same comment with all the required info three times.**ALSO I get so many terrible spam comments that I have to moderate my comments here. If you post a comment, just wait. It will get published soon. No need to keep trying. Just hang in there :) Good luck everyone. And as always...