Tag Archives: Sputnik

Selene

by Boris Starosta

Sorry, I must rest on my laurels this round; these two views of Selene were obtained ten to fifteen years ago(!), the one in the kitchen in natural light with a Sputnik for sure… the one with mirrors in studio probably with the Sputnik, alternately maybe with my Mamiya 6 twin rig, and using a strobe kit for illumination.

The shot with the mirrors was part of a series of images exploring the difficulties people sometimes have in seeing themselves as beautiful, or even just acceptable. I wanted to get models to draw themselves on a mirror, easily just following / tracing their reflection using a grease/wax pencil. The plan had been (actually, still is) to find a very skinny/anorexic model, and have her draw herself as quite fat in the mirror. I’ve not yet found that model, but in the interim got some pretty good pictures with Selene and one other model using this mirror situation.




 

 


The kitchen view was inspired by the back-lighting that we got every morning, with sunlight streaming over the stove, lighting up steam etc. as one might cook breakfast. Selene was happy to oblige my desire to add some spice to this visual recipe.

Subbasement IX (two views)

by Boris Starosta

Aeons ago, when I first started shooting MF3d, I set my sights on an abandoned textile mill in downtown Charlottesville. Frank IX & Sons made various textiles there until 1999. What’s amazing to me is that, though I lived in the area, and would have cycled past it almost every day in the mid to late 90’s on my way to work, I was completely oblivious of its existence until after the turn of the century, when I was looking for things to shoot in MF3d.  Only now, having read some history on it (for this post!), do I realize that when I took these pictures, the mill must have been shut down just one or two years prior.  Indeed, just a few years after my several photo expeditions there, the building was nearly completely removed, and what remains of it is now the centerpiece of an art park, including two breweries (one for sake, the other for beer) and some other social gathering places.

Anyway, on to these two pictures…  I had done some exploring and photographing in the vast main hall and then continued to poke and probe ever deeper into the ruins of this structure.  At one point I saw a hatch in the factory floor, with a steep ladder descending into blackness.  Of course, I had to check that out!  At the very bottom, in the faintest of light, I discerned the most amazing scene: a basement, or maybe it should be called a subbasement, that was completely flooded with water.   Using a tripod that could hold my cameras very close to this watery surface, I was able to obtain images of the room, where everything above the water was perfectly reflected in the water itself, creating this symmetrical surrealism.

I think this “early” MF3d work was shot with a Sputnik borrowed from my friend Chuck Holzner (RIP), with whom I’d gone to the Buffalo 3D-con the year before?  (around 2000)  Shot at probably f22, with at least a 30 second exposure time, maybe more…  I can recall only that I was worried about reciprocity failure in this film, but that I did not know the numbers.  The only light source was a small window far to the left, that opened onto some kind of light-well.  The slide gives you a view such as you would experience only with dark-adapted eyesight.

‘Lover’s Leap’ – Rock City, Georgia 2025

by Brent Osborne

My father moved to upstate Georgia back in 2023 and wanted me to come out for a visit. It’s an interesting part of Georgia, with lots of historical Civil War battlefields, southern cuisine, and of course, Rock City. Rock City, which houses Lover’s Leap, is by far the most obnoxiously advertised amusements in the country. It’s ‘See Rock City’ slogan was painted by 1969 on more than 900 sides of homes, rooftops, billboards, etc. It’s slogan is especially noticeable within a 20 mile radius of the actual park. It’s actually a pretty interesting place to visit, despite it’s annoying slogan (in which my father fell victim to, hence our visit). From the top of Lover’s Leap, one is said to be able to see 7 states from one viewpoint on a clear day. This includes Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, North & South Carolina, Kentucky and of course, Georgia.

Lover’s Leap refers to the act of two lovers jumping to one’s demise to avoid conflict and/or separation of said lovers rather than deal with any issues at hand. Sounds romantic, no?

Rock City was built on top of Lookout Mountain, back in 1935. A gentleman named Garnet Carter and his wife started monetizing the visit to the park in which they built over 4100 feet of walking trails over 700 acres. That trail ends at Lover’s Leap. We managed to clamber over most of the place, but found it to be a bit exhausting. All in all, it was a good place to shoot 3D. If you’re aware of it’s slogan, you may have already been there with it’s enticing ‘See Rock City’ slogan etched in your brain. Shot with my Sputnik, 60th/sec. at f.22. Provia 100f Fujifilm.

Coronado Historic Site, New Mexico 2025

by Brent Osborne

My wife and I visited her sister in Albuquerque last year. We had always been curious to see that part of the country. We liked it, but still love the fresh green trees of the Pacific Northwest more. After visiting, we do understand some of it’s magnetizing aspects. Native American art and heritage, unique architecture, and it’s quirky and fascinating history. All in all, I was not totally happy with most of the shots I took there, and I only shot about 2 rolls while I was visiting. So, needless to say, I didn’t have a lot of shots to share. This is a shot of a maintenance building that was built using the same methods as what the original buildings would have been built with back in 600AD. Except for maybe the added window frame of course. The balls you see there are called ‘armas de la tierra’ or ‘weapons of the earth’. This was a Tiwa people’s ancient adobe construction technique. They would use the balls to build walls while they were pliable, thus becoming hardened and sturdy after being dried in the sun.

Coronado is located near Albuquerque and the mighty Rio Grande River, and has been around since at least 1000BC.  Everything was fine and dandy until 1540 when a group of European colonists visited and fought with the populace in trying to find gold and silver in the region. None was found, and the expedition was ended in 1542. It was colonized from 1542 onward. Conflict and disease led to a downfall after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and the town was abandoned. It was later designated as New Mexico’s first State Monument site in 1535. Not much is left of the site, hence the picture of the work shed instead of the ruins left behind of the village. I found the work shed to be more interesting to photograph. Shot with my Sputnik, 100th sec., f.22, Bright sun! Provia 100f Fujifilm.

Barichara, Colombia 2023

by Brent Osborne

Barichara is a small colonial village town in central Colombia. Surrounded by rolling hills and mountains, it has cobble stone streets, tiled roofed colonial buildings, a nice climate, good cheap food, history, etc. Its an amazing place in the world! It’s also a photographers paradise. Only downside were the hills I had to climb to get anywhere. Besides that, an amazing place to stay. The lighting there was nice, and there were many opportunities to get a good photo. However, in my excitement, I missed a couple good shots due to overexposure metering, missed focus, etc. We’ve all been there. This particular shot in the folio was one of my favorites, showing the simple architecture and the beauty of a sunset there. Such a great place to visit if you’re ever in Colombia!

Built after 1702 when a peasant from the region saw the face of the Virgin Mary in a stone there. A church was placed there in it’s honor. Thus the town formed around this church, and was officially founded in 1705. It doesn’t seem to have changed much since then. It is a Columbian National Monument, and has had status protection since 1978. Shot this on my Sputnik handheld at 100th/sec. at f.16, on Provia 100f Fujifilm.

Fontana di Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) Florence, Italy 2023

by Brent Osborne

While visiting Florence back in 2023, I wanted to make a conscious effort to walk around Florence and photograph at night. Being a safe city and very ‘lit-up’ at a lot of the landmarks, it’s a great place to ‘plant a tripod’. As we all know, water in motion is a great way to share the 3D experience, so I had to get a shot of the infamous Fountain of Neptune. Located in the Piazza della Signoria, it’s steps away from the Uffizi Gallery, which houses some of the most famous artwork in the world. The best part of shooting Florence at night are the options. Tons to photograph and lots of historical spots to aim your lens at.

A little history on the fountain. It was commissioned in 1559 by Cossimo l de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence, in celebration of bringing new water to the city after a new aqueduct was built nearby. Almost immediately after being officially completed in 1574, people damaged the fountain. Some used it as a wash basin for laundry and caused discoloration. Other instances included breaking off Neptune’s hand, painting Neptune’s shoulders after Italy winning the World Cup, and most recently, a woman climbing on one of the horses for a ‘selfie’. The photo was taken with my Sputnik, shot at about 15 seconds at f. 16 with Provia 100F Fujifilm. I noticed there’s a blue crescent in the fountain water in the left eye shot, but overall I figured that it was a decent image regardless.

COVID Road Trip #2 – The 2nd Leg Of The North American Loop Tour

by Steven Lederman

I’m keeping my loop a33 images in the folio for loop a34, as they weren’t seen due to the folio being called home early by John Thurston. This is also to keep the folio moving in a timely fashion. I also don’t have anything new mounted yet!

Here’s the description from loop a33:
My second Stateside road trip after COVID was in April of 2022; “Old Car City” in White, Georgia. 4700 vehicles from 1918 to 1972 slowly being reclaimed by nature. It’s well-documented on YouTube.
“Twitter Barn” – Ever wonder where Elon Mollusk got the inspiration for his inventive re-naming of the Twitter platform? It was from this very barn, somewhere near the border of two States, on the way down to Georgia. TL-120-55, and some expired colour film. Could have been Provia 100F.
“Old Car City – Ford Detail” – I think this is an emblematic example of my work. Sputnik, Superpan 200.
“’50 Buick OCC” – I love the 1950 Buick. GM only made that grill style for one year. Sputnik, Superpan 200.
“’50 Buick Old Car City, GA” – A different 1950 Buick. Shallow depth of field, scratch on the film. Sputnik, Superpan 200.

All images home-processed using a JOBO CPP2 unit, with Unicolor E6 or Fomapan R chemistry.

CVLE Bike Fest

by Boris Starosta

A couple years ago, we had a new bike race organized in my home town of Charlottesville. I like this subject matter for the challenge of capturing the essence of the sport, though it is also a bittersweet experience to stand on the sidelines with a camera, as I have several decades of bike racing experience, and I do miss participating (my last racing was ten years ago, and I’m fairly sure I finally quit for good).

I knew this shoot was going to be “low yield,” but I love these kinds of dynamic images in 3d. Few people have shot this style in MF3d, and it’s no surprise, because getting a good shot – where at least a few parts of the image are not blurred – is basically a crapshoot. Indeed, out of four rolls shot with two spuds, I got at most three or four images that meet that standard! For more backstory (and images) from this shoot, please visit my patreon page about it here.

There are several races during the day, but only two of the races have large fields of experienced riders, riding tightly packed, which is the most exciting. Thus, I shot with two Sputnik cameras, because during any given race, there’s no time to reload the camera; that gave me twelve exposures for each of those two races. Even before I started shooting, I tried a couple of different ways to aim and pan.  I discovered very quickly that trying to look down into the mirror finder was not going to work – too confusing!  I shot about half the material with my eye at the camera, looking through the “sport finder,” and the other half with the camera more or less at arms length, held out in front of me, aiming by “feel” – I felt this helped me keep the panning motion of the cameras very smooth.  I used shutter speeds of 1/10 and 1/25 second, which was about right for the camera apertures of f32 and f22.

Sputnik sport finder

(For those unfamiliar with it, here’s the “sport finder” mode in the Sputnik.  Note one hazard of using the sport finder: because you are not using the middle lens to aim, you have no feedback about whether or not the lens caps have been removed;-)

OBX pier

by Boris Starosta

A couple years ago we rented a cottage with another family for spring break in the Outer Banks, NC. This image was made one evening, about twenty minutes after sunset. Shot at the usual f32 with my sputnik, on Fuji Provia, requiring about thirty seconds of exposure. This was my goal: to blur the waves into a fog. I’d like to find another opportunity someplace to make an image like this, but with bigger waves! (taller fog)

I had brought a bunch of film, and had hoped to make more MF3d images whilst in “OBX,” but ended up with so much other family related stuff to do, that this motif was the only one that ended up on MF film.

Great Mosque of Sousse, Tunisia 2023

by Brent Osborne

The Great Mosque of Sousse is a great place to check out in Tunisia. Located near the Medina of Sousse, it was built in 851, and is now the oldest mosque in the city as well as the oldest prayer hall in North Africa. I wanted to get some night shots while in Tunisia, and chose the mosque as a great backdrop along with the moon. Not far from the main part of the old section of Sousse, it was only steps away from our hotel and a really fun place to smoke at a hookah lounge. Sousse is on the coast of Tunisia, and unfortunately is known as the place that had terrorist attacks in 2015 that damaged the tourism in Tunisia. Although still trying to recover from those days, Sousse is a good place to visit and Tunisia as a whole. The city is rich with history and was definitely noticeable all around you at every turn. This was shot with my Sputnik, on Provia 100f.

Duomo di Orvieto, Orvieto, Italy 2022

by Brent Osborne

Duomo di Orvieto, is a gorgeous church in the heart of Orvieto, located in the Umbria region of Italy. My wife and I explored Umbria and Tuscany in 2022 by car, and in doing so, got to visit many different little towns off the beaten path. Built between 1290 and 1591, it is an amazing place to visit. Similar to the church in Milan with it’s black and white stonework throughout, it is a sight to see. Personally, I recognize myself as agnostic, but I am still always fascinated by religious structures throughout the world. This one was no exception. As to getting the shot, I managed to have a tiny tabletop tripod that is maybe 3 inches long, and has a quick release system. I slap that on my Sputnik and then find some railing that I can ‘pinch’ it on as I take the shot. I tried the string to foot method in the past, with little success. So, by not being able to use a proper tripod in churches, this is the best I could come up with. Shot on Provia 100f.

Khoa San Road, Bangkok, Thailand 2024

by Brent Osborne

Khoa San Road is a very popular area of Bangkok. Those who have visited may have stayed near there, or are at least ‘in the know’ as to it’s existence. It was once, and still is, a backpacker’s hub (since the 1970’s) with tons of little shops, eateries, street food, and chaos. We happened to stay in this area of Bangkok for the first time, because it is known to be loud, crowded, etc. However, we managed to find a great hotel nearby that was on a much more quiet backstreet and was steps away from everything. Great experience! We happened to be there during Halloween last year and I wanted to get some night shots. As you can see in the photo, there are red streaks of light about head height in the image. Those are lit up red devil horns that people were wearing all night. Glad I captured at least part of that. This exposure I believe was about 20 seconds long. Shot at f16. Shot on (the now hard to get) Provia 100f with a Sputnik.