I have taken the liberty of scanning David’s slides so we’ll have something to jog our memories as we leave comments. Any errors in scanning are certainly mine and not David’s.
–John Thurston
Category Archives: b24
David W. Kesner – Fern Pit
This is a lava cave in Eastern Oregon. It forms a natural terrarium that allows these ferns to grow year round. Taken with a Sputnik on Fuji Velvia 50. It was a long exposure and suffers from some light flair at the bottom.
David W. Kesner – Lava Tube Throat
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.
David W. Kesner – The Sentinels
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.
David W. Kesner – Up or Down?
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.
Linda Nygren, July 2011
Linda submitted her images at the close of the NSA convention in Loveland. I’ve provided the thumbnail scans to provide a placeholder for comments, but I am unable to add any additional commentary.
–John Thurston, August, 2011
Jim Harp – Soda Can Mermaids – Coney Island
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.
Jim Harp Self Portrait
Shot with a Sputnik Ilford Pan-F processed by DR-5 Dublin 2006
This was a three to four minute exposure. You have to look for my face in here, it’s floating in space just to the left of the base of the statue. I opened the shutter with a locking cable release, walked up to the statue and held a Vivitar 285H pointed at my face at arm’s length and fired it.
Jim Harp – George Cohan Statue, Times Square
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.
Tomb of Itimad ud Daulah Agra, India
Photographed with a TL-120, Fuji Provia 400X
This monument is known as the “Baby Taj” because of its location near the Taj Mahal, which has also led to it being generally ignored by tourists.
Reflection Lake Star Trails #2
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.
Kalalau Sunset #5
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.
Misty Waimea Hills #3
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.
Self Portrait with Bubble (Bubble Lights 2.4)
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.
“Invisible Falls”
I call these falls invisible because you can’t see them from the road. They are just below the road at a point where the Paradise River runs under the road. This is near the junction of the road between Paradise Lodge and Mirror Lake. One second exposure at f32 using Fuji Velvia.