Author Archives: Bob Venezia

Keep it down up there, Willya?

by Bob Venezia

Keep it down up there, Willya?

Keep it down up there, Willya?

I lost my beloved cat Tesla in April to an aggressive cancer. Tesla was a total character: vocal, complaining, smart, adventurous, curious, determined, sneaky, athletic, playful. We were bonded and I miss her every day.

One of the reasons I wanted, and built, this Macrobox was to capture shots of Tess in MF3D. I knew it wouldn’t be an easy pursuit because the moment I started doing something she would be all over it. “No, Tess, I want you *in front* of the camera. Not *on* the camera.” That sort of thing.

I was able to catch her in a quiet moment when the camera and strobes had been pre-set for her position. I like to think that in this shot she is hollering at some kids upstairs to be quiet. In fact I caught her in mid yawn.

Bee Good #4

by Bob Venezia

This whole set could be titled “Adventures Near and Far.”

Bee Good #4

Bee Good #4

My most recent photo endeavors have revolved around a macrobox. I had purchased a box like this from John Hart of Colorado, but fitting my Hasselblads in it was a stretch—the space was so tight that, once the cameras were mounted, it was difficult to check their settings, and simply winding the cameras was bound to knock them out of alignment.

This was shot in August of 2020. Lots of the technical details are listed on the slide mount. One detail is listed incorrectly—the extension is 56mm and not 57. Cameras were triggered with the same wired trigger that I’ve used for fireworks. I like the look of the stamen in this shot—each one looks like a nuclear warhead. Using the macrobox, I was able to get a shot like this as well as shots of my cat Edison that circulated last round. But a total PITA to set up and use.

Meanwhile, a new friend of mine had opened my eyes to some Hasselblad equipment I was unaware of— things like bodies with built-in motor drives and wired remotes. I picked up a couple of the motorized bodies, but they were too big for the macrobox. That’s when the quest for a new macrobox began in earnest. By the end of September I had ordered an optical breadboard from Baselab Tools, which was to be the platform for my new toy.

Orchid #3

by Bob Venezia

DR5 Orchid

DR5 Orchid

This was one of many ‘proof of concept’ shot with the new macrobox in my kitchen. Here I’m still trying to wrap my head around camera placement in the box and other technical details. Obviously you don’t need a beamsplitter to get a shot like this—you could get this with a single camera moved slightly between shots. But my aim was to shoot ‘action’ macro shots, with flying insects. No matter how well you train your bees, that’s not going to work with cha-cha. Processed by DR5.

F32 and BEE There!

by Bob Venezia

F32 and BEE There!

F32 and BEE There!

This is one of the first rolls I got back after setting up some ‘real world’ shots with my new macrobox. I’m thrilled with the results. I love the shadow cast on the flower by the bee, and the shadow of the leg is a bonus. Flashes were on either side of the bee; one more to the side, the other more from above. Black velvet draped behind. And a single strand of web in the back has caught a grain of pollen. It’s a minor distraction but if I’d noticed it at the time I would have removed it.

4 From Bob Venezia

by Bob Venezia
4 From Bob Venezia

4 From Bob Venezia

Timing was very unfortunate this year. I blame the Coronavirus. I received 2 folios within days of my state being identified as one of the world’s hotspots. The problem was compounded when several of my coworkers were ordered home because of potential exposures to the virus. For a while I was doing the work of 5 people. Even though by now there are 4 of us doing the work of 5, I’ve still been working long hours and not getting enough rest.

Sorry to have held onto the folio for so long. I’ll try to add some context to the photos in the coming days.

Skydiver is among my all-time favorite carnival ride shots. It’s the only time I captured the intermittent movement of this ride while it was loading. (My other captures of the ride show a more boring seamless disk when the ride was in full motion.

Photographers Playground is a slight hyperstereo shot at Bryce Canyon. At the time I was cursing these people who were messing up my nature shot. But clearly I ‘m an idiot, as you can see that they make the shot. Shot with Hasselblads at about 18 inches separation.

Fireworks (Sorry, I’ve already sent off the folio and don’t remember the exact title) is another of my hyper shots with forty feet separation.

And Edison Advances is shot with twin Hasselblads in a macrobox with a beamsplitter.

Independence Day Fireworks 2-4

by Bob Venezia
Independence Day fireworks over Seattle's Lake Union

Independence Day fireworks over Seattle’s Lake Union

Taken with twin Hasselblad 500Cs spaced 40 feet apart and triggered with an ingenious device created by my good friend James Baker. The photo is taken from James’ roof. There will be no public fireworks show in Seattle in the year of 2020. But next time I shoot them I expect to be able to trigger the cameras wirelessly, using motorized film winders. Looking forward to that!

Rockwood Farm Entrance 3-3

by Bob Venezia

Rockwood Farm Entrance

Entrance to Rockwood Farm in Snoqualmie, Washington

A popular stop for photographers in the fall is the entrance to Rockwood Farm in Snoqualmie, Washington, to the tremendous annoyance of the locals. Dozens of people stand at the entrance and spill out into the street. There’s a wrought iron gate I’m shooting through in this shot. I do wish I’d underexposed it a bit more for richer color.

Seattle Skyline from Jose Rizal Bridge

by Bob Venezia
Seattle Skyline from the Jose Rizal Bridge

Seattle Skyline from the Jose Rizal Bridge

I’m including this photo because I think it demonstrates a point about composition and fusion. The rail on the bridge is too close in the image, but It works because the line of trees behind it have turned to featureless black and have separated the railing from most of the rest of the shot. I didn’t do that intentionally. I’m not that smart! (There is a small stretch of road that meets the railing that you can see in one image and not the other). The point is that the darkness of the trees act as a separator making it like 2 photographs — the close railing and the far city, so it’s not so difficult to fuse. If there had been a close vertical element (like a tall signpost) that passed through both the near and far parts of the image it couldn’t have worked.

Some notes about this image: The Jose Rizal Bridge is a favorite spot for photographers, and you can imagine why. You need a long exposure to get traffic trails, but the bridge bounces horribly when the frequent buses pass by, so you need to time your shots to avoid them. The image suffers from lens flare that could have been avoided had I been more attentive. And the railing is painted with the ugliest of insitutional green paint, but under the vapor streetlights it looks like solid gold!

Edison In Repose

by Bob Venezia

Edison in repose

Our cat Edison abiding on a comfy chair.

There have been numerous entries playing with camera distance from subject, and with varying results. I love the idea of getting in close, but I would want to limit the depth of the scene so my background wouldn’t be difficult to fuse. Some years back I purchased a macro box from master 3D photographer John Hart of Colorado. At the time I was using it with my digital cameras, but it’s mostly sat around unused. Last year I decided to have a go with the Hasselblads. I was happy enough with the results, but the whole setup was a total PITA to use. Trying to get both cameras to the same settings, focus them both, capture an image, and then wind them for the next image (without knocking them out of focus or position in a cramped macro box) was an exercise in frustration. Plus there was a lot of experimentation with flash sync. Anyway, I do have an example of using the setup to capture a portrait of our cat Edison.

I do plan to continue this pursuit, but it will involve rebuilding the macro box to accommodate two motorized Hasselblads that can be triggered wirelessly

This was shot with flashes. I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fan of the strobist blog. If you are interested in learning about using portable flash units, go there and start with Lighting 101. I can’t recommend it enough.

I like the eyes and whiskers of course but I especially love the hairs in Eddie’s ears. They remind me of fireworks trails.

Bubble Star

by Bob Venezia
Bubble master Tom Noddy displays the extremely complex Bubble Star

Bubble master Tom Noddy displays the extremely complex Bubble Star

My friend Tom Noddy came over to my house so I could capture some of his amazing creations in 3D. The back wall is draped with black velvet. DOF is pretty narrow. Shot with TL-120, Provia 400x, and flash units aplenty.

The Bubble Star is a very complex bubble and takes some time to build, So by the time it’s finished it will not last long. Something is going to pop.

Tom was presenting once in Israel (he does a lot of science museums) and you can imagine the reaction he got when he presented this.

The Finally, Part 1

by Bob Venezia

Independence Day fireworks over Lake Union in Seattle

Independence Day fireworks over Lake Union in Seattle

The process for getting these shots has been talked about in other posts, but this is shot with twin Hasselblads outfitted with 150mm lenses and separated by 40 feet. They are taken from the roof of a building owned by one of my best friends, and I have the roof to myself. That’s helpful because the cameras are tethered by a wired remote and I wouldn’t want someone tripping over a cord and killing 2 Hasselblads. That wouldn’t do.

The cameras are aimed into the sky during the day. This usually works out well, but last year I got burned. The cameras were aimed normally high but the fireworks were set off abnormally low. So I got almost nothing. This year I’m planning to shoot with a wider lens to capture more of the entire scene, and I’m in the process of running tests on those lenses to see if they match.

Reflection Lake Star Trails #3

by Bob Venezia

Long nighttime exposure, with star trails, of Mt. Rainier from Reflection Lakes


My best guess is this is from 2010. This is a one-and-a-half hour exposure at f16 from 2 Hasselblads. These would be the 50mm lenses, and the film is Provia 100F. I don’t remember if I’d planned it this way, or if I later determined I’d gotten the exposure very wrong, but I ended up pushing the film 2 stops which was clearly the right thing to do. (I may have taken a test exposure from another film magazine to make the determination; just don’t remember). I probably had some children’s socks tied around the lenses, with handwarmers inside, to keep the lenses from fogging.

I’m impressed with the color and how blue the sky looks. Well, it is sunlight after all, it’s just getting to the scene via a large reflector in the sky. The moon would have been pretty full here. The challenge with these shots is to get enough light on the trees on the other side of the lake without blowing out the top of the mountain. I do like the reflected star trails in the water.