Today is a milestone day, I have published my first photography book time-zero Santa Cruz. Have you thought about publishing a book? It is actually a lot easier now than in the past. If I had to print 1000 copies of a book I probably would never have done it. But it is now possible to have them printed on demand, with very little upfront cost to the author, so I decided to give it a go.

Order on Amazon here.

It is a look at Santa Cruz where I have lived since 2001. I started taking photos of places around Santa Cruz using a Polaroid SX-70 instant camera, and really enjoyed manipulating them to make them interesting and different. My Polaroid SX-70 manipulated images have always been a personal project. I love the uniqueness of them, and the painterly look. You may have seen them in my Polaroid gallery.

Making photographs look more like paintings by manipulating Polaroid SX-70 images is an alternative art form which has been around since the 1970’s.  Although Polaroid no longer makes this camera and film,  the SX-70 camera can still be found on eBay or in people’s garages and attics. The more challenging part is getting the time-zero film which can be manipulated. The Impossible Project, a very interesting story by itself, currently produces film which can be manipulated similar to the time-zero Polaroid film. The results are not exactly the same, but one can still create one of a kind images today.

I got my first SX-70 camera in the 2000’s, when the film was still available from Polaroid. I love watercolor paintings, and I love photography. This is a happy union of  these two activities. I enjoy the process of creating something different and interesting, while having fun with it. The photos are manipulated using hand tools, scanned into the computer, and sometimes further enhanced using computer software. To me, it is just a fun process, and the results are often unexpected!

I especially enjoy meeting people who are curious about the odd camera I use when I am out taking photos, and showing them what can be created from the photos.

In this first book, I have included 50 images of Santa Cruz, many street scenes downtown, on Pacific avenue over the the last few years and some new images of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, which is so identified with Santa Cruz as a summer holiday destination.

Please visit my Polaroid gallery, and if you like the images, check out the book too.

The book can be ordered now on CreateSpace  and it is also available on Amazon here.