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.



PX No. 27

PX No. 27

This image was taken Saturday, 4/5/08 at Tampa General Hospital in a 5th floor waiting room. I was visiting a friend who's wife was in intensive care and spent some time in this room. I made several pictures at this location including S6 No. 61 and S6 No. 63.

In this image you can see the shadow of some medical personnel as they walk by the frosted glass on the left. I also hoped to get the vague impression of the shapes from windows in an adjacent building as seen through these windows.

The picture was left on the same date at a computer station in another waiting room on the same floor (seen below).


Sunday, April 6, 2008

WELCOME!



Have you found one of my Polaroid pictures? I'm leaving them at random locations throughout the world.

Sometimes I leave them near where they were taken. Other times they are left far away.

Each of them is a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork.

Please contact me to find out more about them and tell me the story about how and where you found it.

Then you may keep it, or leave it somewhere else for another person to find, thereby sending each little captured frame on its own journey, giving infinite life to that one moment in space & time.

For more information please visit my website: http://www.picturecrossing.com

There you can browse all the PICTURECROSSING photos, see where they were left and read their stories if they have been found yet. You may also shop in my gallery of other photographs.

Thanks for playing.
Peace.
- Lance Aram Rothstein