Pompeii is an incredible place to visit. Not only do you feel like you have stepped back in time when you are there, but you are also essentially walking through a gravesite. It’s eeriness combined with the story of that fateful day in 79 AD, makes it all the more profound. One could spend hours walking it’s long narrow streets, peering into the empty shells of homes, and imagining the horror that would have flowed through the town that day. It really sends chills down your spine. This shot was one of my favorites that I took on this trip, however the only personal ‘beef’ that I have with this shot is that it’s a little underexposed. The medallions, I’m sure are ‘new’ and were placed there not long ago. However, I don’t know for sure, since there were no markers to say otherwise. There are many hidden gems in Pompeii, from tiny scribbles on the walls by children, hidden brothels, and splendid mosaics in hallways or doorways. Worth a visit if you are ever in the neighborhood. Shot with my Sputnik, on you guessed it, Fuji Provia 100f.
Category Archives: Dragon
The Tourists – Palatine Hill, Rome, Italy 2022
Just outside of the main Roman Forum and Colosseum is Palatine Hill. This is where alot of the senators and statesman lived, amongst some of the most prestigious and wealthy Roman citizens. The views of the surrounding area, and it’s natural beauty made it an ideal spot for such folks. Walking around it’s remnants of the past, I noticed a couple sitting not far from us, trying to shield themselves from the afternoon sun. I knelt down and captured their ‘break’ from the heat. Shot with my Sputnik spy camera, on (the now coveted) Fuji Provia 100f.
Come, Fly, With Me
I like the look of this bee a lot, but this is one of the very few times I was able to also capture an insect other than a bee. One of the things I love about these echinacea is the colorful spikes in those danger colors—yellow, orange, and red—like a collection of nuclear warheads arranged by Fibonacci.
Honeybee and green fly join forces in the inspection of nuclear warheads
Bee There in the Golden Hour #5
Generally the best of the macrobox images are ones in which a bee is in mid air yet still in focus. I’ve gotten some very nice ones—this here is an excellent example. This Dahlia variety is called Golden Hour.
Honeybee prepares to land on a Golden Hour Dahlia
Trio
One of the better captures from the Seattle Lake Union fireworks display this year. The pano mount helps to concentrate on the most pleasing part of the image. Approximately 40 foot stereo base.
Independence Day fireworks over Seattle’s Lake union, July 2023
Tom & Small Cube
My friend Tom Noddy displays one of his more renowned bubble creations. The cube is constructed by blowing a bubble and catching it so it is hanging from his bubble wand. A second bubble of equal size is blown beneath, so it is attached and suspended below the top bubble. It looks like an hourglass, with a flat membrane between the two bubbles. Next four more equal sized bubbles are blown around the “waist” of the hourglass, so they connect. And finally a smoke-filled bubble is blown into the middle of it all.
This was shot with several flash units scattered around the room, and black velvet draped behind to isolate Tom and the Bubble.
Tom Noddy displays a bubble cube
Sara (168MFT) Casting Shadows
Kodak E 100 G shot in studio with a strobe light using a twin Hasselblad. Betty w/ Morgan in the Hot Seat
Mixed incandescent and strobe lighting, shot in studio probably on Fuji Astia using a twin Hasselblad. Elysse 609
More recent work (in progress). Mixed lighting in studio, Fuji RXP 400, shot with Sputnik. Can you figure this one out? Michele + Jet in Philly (Zagar A208)
Sometime around 2017 we visited Philadelphia to take in a concert by Raffi, whose music Jet just loved to pieces. It was the furthest South that Raffi had ever travelled in his very long career of live performance for young audiences (Raffi is Canadian). Raffi is getting pretty old these days, so we jumped at the chance to go see him. Of course, a stereoscopic angle had to be included, so I undertook to find some of Isaiah Zagar’s thousands of murals. He has practically covered Philadephia with these distinctive works, which have a lot of stereoscopic interest, on account of the liberal use of bits of mirror. Learn more about Zagar’s opus here: https://www.phillymagicgardens.org/about-philadelphias-magic-gardens/about-isaiah-zagar/
Photography was done with a Sputnik shooting Velvia 50. But the weather was not as bright as I had hoped for. On the ground you can see my test exposure rig, a twin rig Sigma DP1 Merrill.
Ian Andvaag D25 submission
I’m a bit short on time, so my comments on my submission are a bit sparse, my apologies. My first two submissions this round are from Narrow Hills Provincial Park. I wish Fallen Pine was a half stop darker. What’s your technique for metering? I have a Pentax Spotmeter V, but I don’t think I had very good technique as many of my slides were overexposed when I used it. I mostly use a Gossen Luna Pro F nowadays, but I would like to up my game and learn how to spot meter properly. If any of you have tips or resources, I’d be glad if you’d share them with me.
Jade Lake Ridge. Tl120-1, RDP III
Fallen Pine, TL-120-1, RDP III
Next is Cattle Gate, from Grasslands National Park. There is an exposure mismatch that I can detect in the sky, not sure why this is as this was on my TL-120. Maybe the batteries where getting low? Has anyone else experienced this? I don’t think I’ve noticed it on other shots I’ve taken since.
Cattle Gate, TL-120-1, RDP III
Finally, a photo from the Saskatoon Exhibition. I don’t think this is as good as Bob and Timo’s slides of the fair, but I did enjoy going and taking some nighttime photos of the rides a few years ago. I wish I could control the lens flare a bit better, but I guess it comes with the territory when you shoot directly into bright lights.
Mach 3 & Water Race, TL-120-1, RVP 100
COVID Road Trip #1
As soon as the borders opened, I booked tickets for “The Presidents’ Heads”. My visit took place in November of 2021. I plan to visit the site again for one of the offered light-painting workshops.
“Bedrock For Bonzo” – TL-120-55, expired Kodak LPZ.
“Anti-Vax in Denim Slacks” – I met a lot of nice photographers at the Heads. A pair of them actually told me about a site that would eventually become COVID Road Trip #2. I met one fellow who shook my hand and told me about how much he liked Canada, but then went on to say that he couldn’t go there at present because he’d have to get vaccinated. Then the conspiracy theories began to be spewed. I excused myself from the conversation, claiming that I had to return to photographing before the light faded. – Holga Stereo Colour Flash, some expired film, most likely Kodak.
“Camera Pole Assassin” – when the busts were being moved to their present location, Lincoln toppled off the flatbed and the back of his concrete head exploded. Art imitates life. TL-120-55, expired Kodak LPZ.
“Concrete Candidates” – TL-120-55, expired Kodak LPZ.
Zach Horton’s D24 submissions
Interiors
Part of a “cinematic,” semi-narrative series.
Model: Anna Fischer
Location: Cathedral of Learning, Pittsburgh, PA.
Camera: Mercury Stereo 12
Film: Provia 100
Victoria Chuah
Experiment with a foreshortened depth plane. Portrait of the multi-talented Victoria Chuah, currently (2022-23) Miss Virginia. This was my first shoot with the earliest working prototype of the Mercury Stereo 12. As a result of this shoot I discovered that one of the shutters was off, resulting in different exposures, but I include this image anyway, since I love it as an experiment.
Location: Pittsburgh, PA.
Camera: Early prototype of Mercury Stereo 12
Film: Velvia 50
Trumpeter Birds
These incredible birds were semi-domesticated by a Wairani family deep in the Amazon. I had to react in a split second when the one in the foreground momentarily displayed its feathers to me. This was the only time I ever saw this happen. I was able to get this shot only because of the zone focusing of the Stereo 12. It was one of a number of experiences that convinced me of how useful that system is for impromptu and action shots! I am lunging forward and onto the ground while taking this shot, resulting in the skewed horizon. Not a perfect shot, technically, but one I’m proud of, given the extreme difficulty of capturing this rare moment in the jungle.
Location: Amazon jungle, Ecuador
Camera: Mercury Stereo 12
Film: E100
Jungle Path
This path down to the river was built by a Wairani family deep in the Amazon jungle. I shot this with a Stereo 12 on a tripod, not cha cha. However, I exposed the left and right sides sequentially rather than simultaneously, to try to capture the play of the shimmering light at the time. Because of the tripod and otherwise static scene, only the light on the ground is different, producing the shimmering effect. This concludes my experimental slide set!
Location: Amazon jungle, Ecuador
Camera Mercury Stereo 12
Film: E100
Jim Roy D24 submission
Please leave your comments for Jim Roy’s D24 submission below this post.
-Ian Andvaag
Netherlands Carillon Marine Memorial
Boris Does Better
Maine White Birch
“Maine White Birch” was taken in my brother’s trailer park several years ago, but the 20 plus birches there have mostly been scoured out by the new park owners. However, the park’s wild turkeys are back and I shot three of them in August, though with a W3 since carrying the Sputnik and Rolleidoscop around is a pain.
West is Best
Paul Gillis d24 submissions
Willow in the West Virginia Hills
This crooked old tree is near the Smokehole Gorge in Pendleton County, W. Va. It’s right behind an old farmhouse that my caving club has used as a field house for many years, about a mile up a very rough gravel lane from the South Branch of the Potomac. All 4 of these slides were taken with my TL-120-1 on Provia 100.
Hillside Shack
Not really a shack, but a storage shed, very close to the willow tree above. Late afternoon in the fall.
Neptune Fountain
In my opinion, Washington’s most impressive fountain. Officially called “The Court of Neptune”, it is in front of the Library of Congress’ Thomas Jefferson Building, facing the U.S. Capitol. The bronzes were sculpted by Roland Hinton Perry, and carvings on the masonry of the grotto were done by Albert Weinert. Perry was inspired by the Trevi Fountain in Rome. It was finished in 1898, shortly after the Jefferson Building opened.
A Nereid Riding a Hippocamp
One of the two sea nymphs riding mythic sea horses in the Neptune Fountain.