I used to travel to Upstate New York quite frequently. My friend Erich Hadfield has over 250,000 78 rpm records piled up in two barns about 20 minutes apart there. After I purchased my TL-120 I started taking it on my record buying trips instead of my Realist. This photograph is one of a series of shots of an old abandoned boarded-up school house. On the side of it is a large pentagram-type star. I was drawn to this school house because of all of the history, memories and stories it contains. I tried to imagine what this place was like when it was operative and thriving. I like the depth between the viewer and the school house, but I’m not crazy about the soft foreground grass. I’m considering re-mounting this one in a cardboard landscape mount (if I can get my hands on one) and masking out as much of the soft-focus grass as I can. I shot this on Ilford Pan F Plus, and it was processed by dr5. I shot the roll at whatever ASA his site suggests for this film.“TEXTURES”
We used to live in an old Victorian house in downtown Toronto. Access to the garages was via an alley, and that’s where I found the door in this photograph. The door served as an entrance to someone’s garden, and I was drawn to the textures of the weathered wood, tarnished metal, and peeling layers of paint. This might’ve been one of the first shots I took with my TL-120, or it might’ve been shot with my Sputnik – I’m not too sure. What I do know is that around this time my local lab stopped processing AGFA Scala, and I wanted to determine where I should send my Scala rolls in the future. I shot a few rolls and sent a couple to dr5, and a couple to Mainphoto. This is one of the shots from a Mainphoto roll. Washed out, not a lot of contrast. I think it has a vintage aged look to match the textures on the door. It would have been a very different shot had dr5 processed it. Not necessarily better, but different.
Zipper Sunset
A detail of the ride “Zipper” with sunset colors behind
Taken last year at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington. Sunset colors painted the sky briefly while I scrambled to find a vantage point.
TL-120, Provia 100F, settings unrecorded.
MOG Walkway
Looking up from a walkway outside the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington.
Yeah, not a whole lotta depth. But I took it and you’re gonna look at it!
It was a bit of a challenge to shoot as I wanted the lenses parallel to the ceiling and it was an awkward position from which to check my framing.
TL-120, 1/2 second at f19, Provia 100F. Taken on New Year’s Eve 2009.
Chelsea Market
Street scene in the Chelsea district
Visiting Manhattan over Christmas 2010 we got socked in by a blizzard. Our flight was cancelled so I got in a few more days of shooting scenes in the snow. Here I’m precariously perched on a mound of snow and could have used some snowshoes on my tripod. I love the quality of the saturated color in the reflections.
Twin Hasselblad 500Cs on a custom wood bar, 50mm, Provia 100F.
Approaching the Pillars
An area near the Pillars of Silence
When I visited the Southwest a few years back I stopped in Page, Arizona, and hired a photoguide to cart me around to some interesting spots. There’s one spot called the Pillars of Silence where there’s a deep layer of white sandstone topped by a harder layer of rock. As the cliffs erode there are places where a hard rock is still protecting the soft sandstone directly below it so you get to an area full of white pillars each with a stone cap. It looks like an art installation. This photo is of an area right before you get to the pillars. You can see the amazing patterns made in the sandstone as it melts away. It reminds me of brain matter!
Shot with the TL-120, Provia 100F, f22, on a tripod. Shutter unrecorded.
Yellowstone Bison
The Bison are in Yellowstone, a pair of Fuji 6.45s
Yellowstone Falls
The waterfall is Yellowstone Falls, my home made camera.
More Pictures From Philip
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- Fuji 645W with Provia
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- Sputnik with Provia
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- Sputnik with Provia
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- Fuji 645W with Provia
Logs, Squamish, B.C.
Logs, Squamish, B.C.
On the Sea to Sky highway between Whistler and Vancouver, B.C.
Tried to get the through the window effect.
Kensington Market, Toronto
Kensington Market, Toronto
Spire St. James Cathedral, Toronto
Spire St. James Cathedral, Toronto
TTl 120 camera
1853 – New Gothic Revival Cathedral opens for services on original site
1865 – Bells installed
1875 – Spire completed
Small Light Stream
One more Bob V. tribute!
I took a series of close-up, Autumn stream shots just down from the Kilgore Falls pictured in my last entries. They turned out OK, but not too exciting. Then I remembered seeing how Bob improved a Bryce Canyon shot with a pan mask crop in the last folio. So I just scooted the smaller frame mount over the pics and arrived at this. I really utilized the 3D World mounting jig for the first time on this one, to try to save everyone too much eyestrain! (and criticism) 🙂
The DOF, of course, suffers shooting at such a close and slanted angle. But the shapes and colors remind me a bit of Klimt and other curvy, Fin de Siècle paintings. So, I can just enjoy the pure abstraction of it, without worrying just how sharp or well exposed everything is. I like looking at the floating, squiggly highlights and finding all the tiny, nearly invisible jets and drops of water poking out in depth. View this one with maximum lighting, if you can!
The Condor
This is another Bob V. inspiration!
Another time-exposed shot at Morey’s Pier at Wildwood, NJ, (using Bob’s suggested 4 sec. at f16, asa 100 method – saves a lot of guesswork!). This is the “Condor” ride, which looks (and sounds) very strange – even without the added psychedelic exposure. I shot a series of them, but because the spins and elevations constantly shift, it’s hard to predict the outcome. This was the best one, by far, and it won 1st place at my first visit to the Potomac DC Stereo Society monthly competiton. They joked it must be the first time a shot made by a Sputnik ever won anything!
I enjoy showing this to people and have them guess what they’re looking at. I’ve heard some strange answers (“guitar,” “bell striker”). The distance of the subject certainly cuts down on the parallax, but there is still a little bit of depth left. A wider pair of synced Hassies would have been the ticket here… (Right, Bob?) 🙂
Artscape #2
This was taken at Baltimore’s Artscape Festival in July – said to be the largest, free outdoor arts event in the country. I set out to do a series of slides to contribute to a “Summer in the City” themed gallery group show last year. The gallery was enthused about the stereo format, but we still have a way to go in presentation ideas and executions for them.
This was shot at a performance by the frenetic “Baltimore Rock Opera Society” (BROS). Think Ed Wood-meets-Bosch, set loose on the sweltering streets – but the music and singing was actually pretty decent. I just set up my tripod and TL-120 behind a stage, hoping not to get knocked over.
Tacky, silly, and so very Baltimore, Hon!