Instaxxx is a book of mostly nude instant film photos by photographer Nate "Igor" Smith.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
LA Party Recap & Important Info For International Backers
almost 7 years ago
– Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 04:24:15 PM
I am back from LA and the release party was a great success. It's time to get back to work and deal with the nightmare that is the international shipping problem but first let's talk about the party.
LA Release Party
The LA release party was a blast. Thanks so much to Superchief for hosting both parties. Special thanks to Carter Cruise for DJing most of the night despite a bunch of problems with the DJ set up. Thanks to Charlotte Sartre & Riley Nixon for hanging out naked all night and making the party weird as fuck. And speaking of weird as fuck thanks to Kate Mo$$ for playing a set so nuts that a video of it ended up on Porn Hub.
You can check out my photos from the party here, but keep in mind I was more focused on the party than taking photos. I hate throwing parties and get super stressed out but I managed to have a little fun towards the end of the evening. Plus the party made money which is good cause I still need to ship out 100 books to International backers...
Important Info International Backers
I have mentioned most of this before but I want to go over it again just to make it clear what happened.
When I launched the Kickstarter I planned on making a smaller 120 page book similar to my last two books Get Your Kicks and Dinner With Igor but when I raised so much money I wanted to go big. The problem with that was that the shipping was so much higher than I expected. I made a HUGE mistake and we are both paying for it now.
What I should have done was stick to the plan, make a smaller book and pocketed $15,000, but I am an idiot and I spent all the damn money on a bigger book instead. I am now in debt and I still have 100 books to ship.
The solution seems crazy but it's actually going to work out really well. I am going to make second book for international backers and last night I did just that.
Yesterday I met up with my friend Ricardo Galbis who designed my "Unrealized Projects" zine collection and we started shrinking the book. Ricardo had to redo everything to get it to work but the book is still big enough that the Instax are going to be presented at their actual size which is really cool.
I needed the book to be 60 pages shorter which seemed crazy but we just started removing space from the book. If a spread had three similar images on it we cut it down to just one. If a spread had one big photo over two pages we put it on a spread with three other of those photos instantly saving six pages.
It turns out we didn't have to cut anything that I felt was essential. We got the book down to UNDER 120 pages which means I got to go back in and ADD photos.
I added 6 new photos I took recently to the end of the book including two I took at the release parties. There are also a few older images that just worked with the new layouts. I thought adding some images would be the perfect way to give something special to the overseas backers.
My hope is that the book will be finalized by early next week and then there's about a 10 day turnaround from the printer. Very sorry for all of this including the long wait, but I think you are going to really like this smaller book. Because I spent so much time shooting after raising all the money on Kickstarter this book is going to be WAY better than the book I would have made had I just raised a few thousand dollars. So you might be disappointed that you get a smaller book than people who live in the US but it's a better book than you signed up for when you donated to the Kickstarter to begin with. PLUS you are going to be getting a free signed print for the trouble.
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I want to make this right.
What To Do If You Live Outside Of The US And Still Want The Bigger Book
If you still want the bigger book you can send me $20 dollars via PayPal (or $15 Canadian) and I will ship your book out within 24 hours of getting the money and you will still get the bonus print as an apology.
I have set up two PayPal links for that. I believe you do NOT need a PayPal account and you can just pay via credit card. Make sure you leave a note if your name is different from the name you have on Kickstarter.
CANADA: PayPal.Me/drivenbyboredom/15
REST OF THE WORLD: PayPal.Me/drivenbyboredom/20
AVN Write Up
And lastly, big thanks to AVN Magazine for writing up the book. This book hasn't received much press because I have been so focused on shipping stuff and dealing with release parties to deal with PR but Anka Radakovich reached out to me and wrote a great review of the book for AVN. I particularly liked a couple quotes. Thanks Anka!
"His charming, down-to-earth, bad-girl-next-door aesthetic has not changed since he first photographed his real-life girlfriends in the 1990s. But his technique, composition and artistry have matured into an amazing book of work."
"The photos have an emotional, haunting quality about them that the viewer can project into and interpret as he/she likes."
LA Release Party Info
almost 7 years ago
– Tue, Jul 11, 2017 at 09:24:37 PM
By now I think most of you living in the US should have received your books. If you live particularly far from NYC you might not have yet because media mail is slow. I also haven't shipped about a two dozen books to people in the LA area because you guys should come pick up your books on Friday at the LA release party!
Party Time Excellent
I finally have a flyer for the party and nearly all the details worked out.
We also have a special set from Kate Mo$$ which should probably be insane. Just google them and look at the pictures and be prepared from some wild shit.
We are once again doing an Instax photo booth and I got Charlotte Sartre and Riley Nixon there to take naked photos with. Oddly I haven't figured out a photographer yet but that should be pretty easy.
The party is free and there is free beer and it should be a lot of fun. Here's the flyer.
NYC Release Photos
I think I already shared with you guys my photos from the NYC release party but we had some other people shoot photos as well. Math Magazine came out and took some photos and did a short write up about the party.
The gallery also had photographer Alex Steel take photos as well. He sent me a few of those and I figured I would share a couple with you. Thanks Alex!
More Info For International Backers
I have received a few emails from international backers who want to know about the clusterfuck that is the $35 shipping problem. Please hold on a bit and I will have a lot more information for you soon. Thanks for all your patience.
Release Party Photos, Books Shipped & Some Bad News For International Backers.
almost 7 years ago
– Wed, Jul 05, 2017 at 02:30:07 PM
So apparently I never actually hit send on the last update which is a bummer because it had a bunch of info in it including a reminder about the release party and how to pick up your books if you lived in NYC. It also contained some bad news which I will get to in a minute, but let's start with some fun stuff.
NYC Release Party Photos
The NYC release party was a great time and thanks for everyone who came out. A bunch of people picked up their books and we sold a bunch more and a lot of people got naked and PBR gave out a ton of free beer and it was a blast. Thanks to Superchief and all the DJs and my friends Mel & Meg who did a naked photo booth. You guys rule.
I took absolutely terrible photos at the party because I was too busy dealing with the party and talking to people and signing books and all that madness but I figured I would share them with you guys anyway.
I got 22 massive boxes of books shipped to my apartment the other day. It was complete madness. Each box weighed 58lbs and I had to get them all up to the third floor by myself. It took about two hours.
Since I got the books I have been assembling and packaging them and yesterday I took about 250 packages to the post office. I have another big batch going out right after I finish this. Once that's done everything will have been shipped except for:
Book belonging to my friends. You missed the release party so, come get your damn books.
Books belonging to backers near Los Angeles. Come to the LA release party July 14th and I will give you your book plus a bonus print for picking it up. If you live in LA and know you can't make the party let me know and I will ship it. Any LA books not picked up will be shipped shortly after the party.
Most of the international books.
And Here's The Bad News...
I mentioned this in the update that never happened but this is a complete nightmare. I found out that shipping books outside of the US costs $35 because the book with packaging weighs slightly over 2lbs. This is very, very bad.
International buyers paid $30 for the book, plus $15 shipping because I thought this book was going to be the same size as my last two books which shipped for under $15, however I made this giant book and I screwed myself over. Each one of these books costs close to $15 to print and $35 to ship so I am losing $5 on every international order and that doesn't include all the Kickstarter fees and packaging and everything else. It's a complete disaster but I think I have a solution.
Basically I am going to make a tiny international edition of the book since the original plan when you all donated was to make a much smaller book. I still don't know if this is realistic but I have a friend working on a new design as we speak and if it works out it should be ready right around the time I get back from LA (July 18th).
All international backers will have the option to pay $20 (or $15 for Canadians) and get the full sized book, or get the smaller international edition. It's not a great solution but either way I will send you all a bonus print.
I will have more information on all of this soon but I wanted to give you a heads up now. I am really sorry but I just don't have the $3500 to ship the 100 international books.
Van Full Of Books Headed To The Post Office
Off To LA
Tomorrow I am headed to LA. The first five days I am spending with my family but then I start planning for the LA release party. Again, I will have more info on this soon but here's the info I know so far...
July 14th 7-10pm Superchief LA - 739 Kohler St. DJ sets from Carter Cruise & Joseline Kelly.Free beer! Nudity! Madness! Books!
More soon!
Proofs Are Here! LA Release Date!
almost 7 years ago
– Mon, Jun 12, 2017 at 07:18:19 PM
We Got Books!
I got the proofs for both Instaxxx and the NOT SAFE zine today and they look great! I am super happy with the fake texture look on Instaxxx. I was a bit worried about it but it really looks like it's going to feel rough when you pick it up. I went with all matte paper for Instaxxx and I feel like that was the right move. Looks pretty good.
Gonna approve everything tomorrow and we are fully on schedule for the 30th release date and the NYC release party on the 29th.
LA Release Party - July 14th
Speaking of release parties we have a date for the LA release party! Really glad to be working with my friends Superchief. They have great spaces in both NYC and LA and both parties should be a lot of fun. There are still a lot of details to work out but at least we have dates now. If you can make the LA event let me know so I can hold on to your book for you. Which brings me to my next point....
Shipping Details
Good news is that Instaxxx looks great, bad news is that it weighs nearly 2lbs!
Domestically that's not a big deal because I can ship using Media Mail instead of first class. That's not ideal but at least I won't lose money. International is gonna kill me though. The book is going to cost over $20 to ship outside of the US. So yeah, anyone who can make it to either release party that would help out a bunch.
The other good thing about the book being so thick is that it fits PERFECTLY in the boxes I bought to ship it in. It means I don't even have to buy bubble wrap but I am gonna polybag all the books that I ship so if the packages get rained on it won't damage them.
As far as timing, I am gonna start boxing these things up as soon as I get them and will start shipping on the 30th. I leave for LA on the 6th so I will need to ship about 450 packages before then. Should be an interesting week.
BackerKit Purchases Charged
If you ordered any additional items via BackerKit your credit card was charged today. Sorry I didn't give you guys more of a heads up, I sort of thought you had already been charged. Unfortunately, a few people had their credit cards declined. If you were one of those people you can just update your card via the BackerKit email you should have received. Sorry about that.
Just a reminder if you move or need to change your address or something you will get a last minute email reminder two days before I actually ship everything.
Anything Else?
I guess that's it for now. I will try not to bug you guys again until I have all the info about both release parties.
I figured I would leave you with a little teaser from the book... I don't know if you noticed but the cover of the book features my friend Medusa reading my first book "Get Your Kicks". For that book I traveled the length of Route 66 from Chicago to LA and I took a ton of Instax photos along the way. I didn't want to rehash that stuff too much but I felt like it would be nice to have a few shots in there so I made a Route 66 roadside attraction spread as a nod to that book. Here it is...
Quick Notes...
almost 7 years ago
– Wed, Jun 07, 2017 at 03:19:23 PM
Sorry for emailing you two days in a row but I needed to clear a couple things up. And since I am planning on going on vacation for the next couple weeks you probably won't hear from me again until I have the release party info locked down. Thanks!
BackerKit Mistake
I misunderstood the BackerKit process. When I told you guys in the last update that you had 48 hours to update your address after I sent out the BackerKit email locking everything down I was mistaken. Once I lock everything down you can still change your address up until 48 hours before I start shipping. You just can't change your order. So you have until Friday afternoon to update your order via BackerKit but you can still change your address in case you move between now and the end of the month when I start shipping books. Sorry if that is confusing. If you need any help go to BackerKit.com and bug them. I am paying them to answer your questions. Thanks!
Book Pick Up
In the last update I asked you to email me if you thought you could make either the NYC or the LA release party. I actually don't need to hear from you if you can pick up books at the NYC release (June 29th) because I am not shipping books until after that party. So I will have a list of all Kickstarter backers so anyone can pick up their book at the NYC release. I still need to know about the LA release but I don't even have a date for that one yet so it's kinda pointless to ask now. Sorry.
A Few Outtakes...
Since you had to read this boring email I figured I would give you guys a few images that didn't quite make the book. I like all these shots and they were all in the book until basically the final edit but ultimately I just couldn't find room for them.
