Captured at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington, August 2011.
Last year there were fireworks at the Evergreen State Fair and I didn’t know about it until it was happening. I was in a rotten spot to capture them and it all ended in tears.
This year I got the dates for the fireworks beforehand and guesstimated some good spots for shooting.
The sunrise at Poipu beach on Kauai, a short walk from our rental house.
I have long wanted to use a graduated neutral density filter with my MF photography. The problem is aligning a couple of filters on different cameras. On the TL-120, I wouldn’t be able to mount 2 filter holders side-by-side — there isn’t enough room. You could use screw on filters but then you’re limited by where you can frame the image. Problems, problems, problems.
At some point I realized that there was an extra large square filter size called X-PRO that would fit over both lenses of the TL-120. I found a used filter holder and had it modified to fit on the TL-120 and also came up with a system for positioning the filter (because when you frame the shot through the viewing lens the filter is in the wrong position and needs to be lowered precisely to take the shot).
I found an outfit in the UK that claimed to have Lee ND grad filters in X-PRO size. This was a little confusing to me because on their website Lee has no mention that they make such filters. But after several emails back and forth to the UK and assurances that the filters were real I pulled the trigger. I picked up 1, 2, and 3 stop hard-edged filters.
I don’t remember which filters I used in this shot but it was probably 2 of them, dropping down the sky by 4 or 5 stops.
I know what you’re thinking — the thing missing from this folio is some photos of Mt. Rainier.
For at least a couple years now Don Lopp has been bugging me to get down to Reflection Lake and capture this shot under a full moon. The idea is to take an exposure long enough to let the moon light the scene like day and still get star trails.
I shot some other film that night and processed it first. It came out much too dark and in the end I pushed this roll 2 stops. This was a 90 minute exposure. With the push it’s the equivalent of a 6 hour exposure (and star trails could have been 4x as long)! I am baffled by how true the colors look. I see no reciprocity failure.
Shot with 2 Hasselblad 500Cs on a twin bar. Provia 100F at f16.
This spot was suggested by Robert Hitchman in his Photograph America newsletter. You are looking toward the rainiest place on earth. As such, by the time you drive to this vista for a sunset shot, you have no idea what conditions you’ll find. This is at the Kalalau Lookout, about 17 miles up road 550 on the island of Kauai. I’m standing on a sidewalk behind a big metal rail. Nonetheless, the view there is stunning.
I can be dense but sometimes I’ll learn something from experience. I was at this spot two nights and the first time there was a cruise ship hanging out in the water below. I thought I’d wait for it to get out of my shot before I pulled out my good film cameras so I started shooting with my digitals. Now that I see those digital shots I am kicking myself. The cruise ship at that distance just becomes an iconic ship, and it looks like it’s sailing away from Eden. I think this is a beautiful picture but that was a beautiful picture that told a story and I’m really sorry I missed it.
Some months back I was trying to figure out how to use a neutral density graduated filter with my TL-120. I knew I could get the round, screw in type, but that limits the composition of the image. At some point I had a brainstorm that the cokin style X-PRO series filters were big enough to fit over both lenses. So I found a used filter holder and it was indeed big enough to fit over both lenses. Next I had to find someone who had X-PRO sized ND grads. The place I found was in the UK and they claimed they had Lee Filters in X-PRO size. I thought this had to be a misprint because I could find no evidence anywhere that Lee had ever made such a filter. But after several emails to the UK company, the rep assured me they filters were real, so I took the plunge. My best friend friend build me a mount for my camera and we devised a system for getting the filter set properly (since you can’t see through the taking lenses).
This image has some gratuitous depth in the foreground which I included because a hyper didn’t make sense with the TL-120. Other than that, I really like this image. It was taken on the road that goes up Waimea Canyon, just past the 3 mile marker, on the island of Kauai. I used a 3 stop ND grad to darken the sky. It also got me some misty hills which is an effect I’ve always wanted to capture.
Our fearless leader John has suggested we all enter self-portraits. So here you go. A couple years ago I was preparing to have a photo session with my friend (and master bubble blower) Tom Noddy. I wanted to work out the kinks before Tom came over so I experimented. Can’t remember if I had a digital slr at the time but that would have been invaluable. I’m sure I took readings from a flash meter plus I did some tests for DOF with a tape measure running away from the camera. My memory is that the tape measure showed focus on the inch numbers 28 through 32 but the notes on this image indicate a wider range.
This is shot with the TL-120 with Provia 400X, 1/60th of a second at f22. The focus was cranked to the .8 marker. The notes indicate that my face was at 32″, the bubble at 24″. There was a large potato masher style flash aimed at the ceiling and a Vivitar 283 equipped with a lightsphere (yes, I bought one of those silly things). There was black velvet draped behind to limit the depth in the scene. Shot in my dining room.
I feel like I finally got some good shots of the Tilt-A-Whirl last year at the fair. I like the combination of the magical lights, and the blue collar accoutrements. I like seeing some of the workings exposed (which is why I liked seeing Boris’ socks in the New Years photo!).
I’d been to the Puyallup (pyoo AL ip) Spring Fair on Friday night and saw a poster advertising fireworks on Saturday “at around 9pm.” I made the trek the next night, got there early, scouted where the fireworks would be and what I could get in my foreground, etc. My plan was to shoot with the TL-120, and I started capturing other images while I waited. At 8pm I had just finished a roll in the TL-120 when I started hearing boom-boom-boom behind me. Not knowing how long the fireworks would last, I zipped up my backpack, grabbed both tripods with cameras already set, and hurried over to my spot. I would have done much better with the TL-120, since I would only have to wind one camera, and there’s more to check on the 2 Hasselblads. And sync is not an issue on the TL-120.
This is from my early days with my “Don-Lopp-modified-Sputnik.” We try to visit NYC every other year during the winter holidays. This is from a late-night visit to the NYC library. I spot metered around the scene. It’s quite dark there at night, with a little bit of ambient light from the traffic.
Provia 100F, f22, 80 seconds.
I took a photo trip to the Palouse last year. It’s an area of Eastern Washington/Western Idaho that’s filled with rolling hills and old farms. the combination makes for some striking scenery, with lots of opportunities for photo-graphics. That said, a lot of those opportunities are seized using different lenses. Not an option on my TL-120. But I wanted to include a shot from my trip. It’s a well-worn route for photographers, and this truck was clearly left out front for the photo op. TL-120, Velvia 50, f22, shutter speed unrecorded.
Carnival rides light up the Puyallup Fair at night
I have my night exposures of carnival rides pretty well set, but this particular ride was running without the spotlights for most of the duration of the ride. It looked darker than usual, so I bumped the exposure. Taken with twin Hasselblad 500Cs, 50 mm lenses. Exposure could have been 16 seconds at f22.
The top part of the ride is swinging down, and looks to me like the pendulum on a clock. It intersects with Sinbad’s extended sword in the painted backdrop. It looks as though he’s hitting the pendulum with a loud KAZAM!
Reflected, unfiltered light in Canyon X
Last year I was on a break between contracts, and Mandy saw a window of opportunity to sneak off for a vacation. Picking the southwest US was easy. She had only 2 weeks available, but I was free as a bird, so I offered to drive down to Page Arizona a week early. That gave me a few days to spend with a photo guide, Mandy flew down to meet me, and we took it from there. I’ve seen shots of Antelope Canyon for years, but I had no idea what a tourist trap the place has become. When I went to Antelope, which is a fairly short Canyon, there were 200 other photographers crammed into this tiny space elbow to elbow.
I also went to Canyon X, which only one tour company has the rights to visit, and it was a completely different scene. Unfortunately, most of the day at Canyon X we were getting filtered light, but there were some lucky breaks, like this one. It’s all reflected light bouncing around. There’s no surface in this shot getting direct sunlight. I metered off the highlights.
I think this makes a nice complement to John’s ice cave.
Golden larch in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Washington
Mandy and I went on a backpacking trip into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in September 2007. Permit required, hard hiking, heavy pack, uncooperative weather. The whole point for me was photography, and by 3 days in I had taken 1 stereo pair in 35mm. Winds died down some on the 4th day and I went nuts with the picture taking. This area is known for its pristine lakes, granite peaks, and larch turning gold in the fall. It’s a stunningly beautiful place.
This was taken with my Sputnik, tuned up by Don Lopp. Thank you, Don! Please forgive any mounting errors — the focal lengths of the lenses are a little mismatched.
Tom Noddy and the Tornado Bubble
In the last loop, I included a shot of my friend Tom Noddy with one of his marvelous bubbles. That was shot with the TL-120 and some bounce flash, but when I tried to figure out the exposure, I made some gross errors. So why did the pictures come out okay? I apparently made a whole bunch more errors in making my settings. Yes, I’m an idiot. But I’m an extremely lucky idiot.
This year I did some test shots before inviting Tom over again. There’s black velvet hung behind, because the DOF is extremely shallow. I think we had sharpness between about 28 and 32 inches. I had several flash units triggered by slaves, mostly bouncing off the ceiling here. (I’ve been reading the strobist blog a lot lately, and trying to learn more about the use of flash.)
To create this, Tom blows a bubble and catches it on the wand. He blows a second bubble below it, filled with smoke, so the smaller smoke bubble is attached and hanging below the clear bubble. Tom sticks a wet straw through the wall of the top bubble and blows gently, so the air is swirling inside. Then he break the membrane between the 2 bubbles, so now the smoke is inside the bubble with the swirling air, and the smoke is still somewhat concentrated. Finally, he opens a hole in top of the bubble, so the bubble deflates like a balloon, forcing out the swirling smoke. I shot a bunch of these. Every time you shoot one, you watch what it continues to do, and you think, “Dang! It got even better after I fired!”
I like the detail of the swirling smoke, and the saturated colors on the top of the bubble.