Happy Birthday Edwin Land - Where the Heck Have I Been?!?!?!

Happy New Year Everybody! And we’re already 4 months into it… way to keep up with things, Matt. For those who have returned to the site to check for updates it’s evident that I haven’t really been keeping up with posts as I have done in the past. I have a million excuses but a few reasons so I’ll share those instead. I have been swamped with my day job and newly developing projects. The company I work for is going through major changes and has required a bit more attention than ever. I work 8-5 and travel every other weekend so time dedicated to the shop is limited. So many repairs have been coming in that I’ve had to estimate a 2-3 week turnaround just to be safe. Needless to say I’m trying to balance shop time, work time, and life and in order to do so I’ve reduced my time in the shop by a few hours a week. I haven’t lost my passion for Polaroid cameras though and I still see it as a wonderful hobby. I’m still collecting and taking shots in between repairs. In fact, today is Edwin Land’s 105^th birthday!!! Happy Birthday Doc! Woooo! So please, keep checking the blog and I’ll have some goodies to post very soon including some repairs that have been done over the last few months and plans for new customs coming up!

I have to point out that I missed a few emails in the last month. I tried to link my blogger emails to my work email and everything just got automatically dumped so I greatly apologize to those who had to wait a week for a response. I have the bug ironed out now and all is good.

So in the meantime… here’s a pic (lousy phone pic) of a Sonar I just finished up last night. They’re a bugger to clean up but they look very handsome when finished. Also one of my favorite pics of Dr. Land. Stay tuned for more updates. Shop’s closed!

Goldfinger and Cool Suede - Merry Christmas!

Checking in for what might be the final post for 2013 with a few updates and wishing everybody an awesome Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a very Happy New Year! 2nd Shot is coming close to its first year anniversary and it's been an amazing learning experience and here's to another great year for instant photography! I wish The Impossible Project the best to keep pushing forward with their improvements in all their films and even their upcoming cameras and products in 2014... and all the best to the Polaroid enthusiasts everywhere! We've met quite a few people since 2nd Shot kicked off in February and I hope we can all continue to support those keeping instant film photography alive!

2nd Shot is taking a bit of some time off to enjoy a little break. I'm currently finishing off the final camera of 2013 to head to Canada and then it's time for some travel and hang out with our families. If you wish to inquire about sales/repairs please continue to do so but keep in mind the shop won't be open again until the second week of January.

So what's in store for 2014? We'll be offering sales directly though the blog as well as the option to request customizations like newly available skins, custom painted parts, custom color buttons, and even modifications for cameras to work with 600 film! We are even planning a one-year anniversary SX-70 giveaway... keep an eye out in the new year for info and changes to the blog!

So we leave you with a few pics from the shop this past month... I didn't get a chance to take pics of all the projects as there was a bit of a mad dash to get these finished and shipped by Christmas but here's a few highlights. Merry Christmas everybody!!!!! Shop's closed!

A few pics of some details that I like to make sure are clean before a camera leaves the shop... shutters must be stick-free, fresnel lenses must be dust-free, and most importantly, where applicable, those darn viewing mirror cover stickers have to be gunk-free...

A trio of Model 3s. A bit of a tricky camera to shoot with but I keep saying it, these things are durable little cameras...

Sales were a big part of 2013 and thanks to Impossible's advances in 600 film quality, anything that took 600 film was a big seller...

Finally, here's two custom skin projects, Goldfinger and Cool Suede. These were both cameras that I custom cut skins to give a very classy finish. I have to admit, working with custom materials are a bit difficult but very rewarding. Much like custom cars, these definitely give up some of their utilitarian qualities to give way to some very rewarding artistic expression.