A historic building of old Quebec City is juxtaposed in the mirror onto the green fields surrounding the Citadelle, the city’s fortifications:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadelle_of_Quebec
In this series I have played with a mirror to juxtapose adjacent objects in new ways.
Original slide shot October 9th, 2011 with a tripod-mounted Sputnik using Provia 100P exposed at 1/25th at f20.
The green leaves in the oval mirror are in striking contrast to the red of the Burning Bush. It is ironic that the shrub is called a Burning Bush as it sits in front of Quebec City’s Armoury that burned in July 2008: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City_Armoury
In this series I have played with a mirror to juxtapose adjacent objects in new ways. I am bothered by the softness of the image in the mirror, probably caused by the wind moving the mirror, but my wife likes it the most of the four and asked me to include it anyway.
Original slide shot October 9th, 2011 with a tripod-mounted Sputnik using Provia 100P exposed at 1/25th at f20.
The Giant Wheel at the Evergreen State Fair, now in LED!
The outfit that provides the rides for the Evergreen State Fair and Central Washington Fair is Butler Entertainment. This year they’ve outfitted their Giant Wheel with LEDs. I prefer the incandescent lights, but I know the LEDs will save a lot of energy. And the LEDs look pretty cool in my time-lapse movies. On film they can have nice patterns (or some with nauseating color) but they often look like big TV sets.
The rides always look (to me) like some great engine of science fiction when captured on film, and of course people should be mesmerized by it. So I’m glad the fellow on the left is doing his part.
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.
Another lava tube cave. This image is looking down a side passage that I thought looked like a throat. Taken with a TL120 on Fuji ProviaF 100. Lighting was from a single Vivitar 283 flash held off to the left.
These formations in a lava tube are called extrusion spires and were formed when molten lava in the floor was pushed up through a hole. You can see how some of the lava traveled to the top and then spilled out and dripped down the sides. These are over six feet tall and are the largest in the US. Taken with a TL120 on Fuji ProviaF 100. Lighting was from two Vivitar 283 flashes. One was placed to the far left and triggered by a slave. The other was held just to the right of the camera.
My son Talon is trying to decide whether to take the upper or lower passage in the lava tube. Taken with a TL120 on Fuji ProviaF 100. Most of the light was natural, but Talon also fired a Vivitar 283 to light up a bit more of the dark recesses.
Shot with a TL-120, Provia 100F pushed one stop Vivitar 285H fill-flash
The Coney Island Mermaid Parade is a photographer’s paradise. Participants love to have their picture’s taken. I like the way the fill flash brings out the faces here, but I wish I had used a diffusor, it’s a little harsh.
Shot with twinned Yashica-Mat 124s, Provia 100F pushed one stop. Vivitar 285H fill flash
I shot this in 2003. This statue has since been moved so that this particular view is no longer possible. I liked to think of George M. Cohan watching over all the Broadway theaters here.
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.
Does the blur signify motion and dynamism in 3D like it can in 2D, or is it a problem? Do we have less tolerance for movement in 3D? If yes, is it just a convention or do we need to be able to see the entire image clearly for the illusion to work well? I have another shot of this scene without the chess players that is clear but static.
Original slide shot August 24, 2010 at the Hariot Bay Inn on Quadra Island in British Columbia with a tripod-mounted Heidoscop with Provia 100P at 1/100th at f25.
Everyone except the boy seems quite serious about their trek across the wide expanse of sand to or from the seashore, oblivious of the guy with the funny camera.
Original slide shot during the summer of 2002 with a tripod-mounted Sputnik with Provia 100P, exposure unrecorded.