Geoffrey Waldo is our newest member in 2013. As you may be able to discern from his images, New Mexico is home.
I’ll go out on a limb and suggest these images were created with a TL120-1.
–John Thurston
Last fall, I got on a foliage kick. Finally, after many years of dismissing foliage imagery as “beneath me,” I thought, okay, it does look pretty spectacular, and maybe MF3d would be a good way to capture the beauty of some of our foliage here in Central VA. So for a couple of weeks I went around shooting foliage. Most of the shooting was digital video, actually, and there’s a video I ended up publishing on YouTube, best seen on a 3DTV in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1mU646qYeM
But some of the trees I found were SO spectacular, digital could not do them justice. One of them is in the view I’ve put in this folio “Foliage.” I loved the structure of the tree, and the many different colored leaves that it had on display: lots of yellow and red, to be sure, but also greens and browns. The mid-morning sun was backlighting the leaves to brilliant effect. I had first been attracted to this tree, because it was dropping leaves. I was trying to get video of leaves coming down towards the camera(s). But then I noticed the tree for its own sake… The next day I went back to the tree, bringing the Sputnik and some rolls of Velvia, and it really captured the colors beautifully.
This view is almost as it would be if you were lying on your back underneath the tree. And I could have done so all day! Who needs TV, with trees like this right outside? The tree was in a busy part of UVA campus called “The Corner,” but you’d almost never see anyone taking notice of it. Truth be told, I had not noticed this tree until this fall, when I was really looking for foliage imagery, and I’ve been in that general area thousands of times over the past 30 years.
A couple of months ago, Michele and I went hiking with Jet. These days, about the only chance I get to shoot nudes is with her and the boy nearby. Fortunately, he gave me about 15 minutes with which to work, because he’d fallen asleep on the way to the location.
So in that quarter of an hour I shot a roll of 120 on my lovely model, then the second roll needed to be of Jet and my lovely model, as he had awakened, and was of course hungry. The boy is ALWAYS hungry… (at least for nursing at the breast). Maybe next round I’ll put in some slide(s) of Michele at the Blue Hole, but for now I think Jet is the more current topic!
Sadly, I have precious few MF3d images of Jet, as I discovered while looking to put my folio entry together. I’ve got thousands of digital images, of course, but now I must try to get some more on film!
Where last year all you got to see were photos of Michele a couple months pregnant, here is a shot of Jet (sorry, out of focus) visiting with Chuck Holzner (of Folio II). Jet had just started walking the week prior, and was eagerly careening around any and all available venues.
But not all is happiness in this picture. Chuck is ailing from stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and the doctors doubt he will make it to 2014. When I visited him here, in this photo, he was already three months into his diagnosis, and faring much better than anyone had expected. I’m presently helping him get his photographic legacy in order, in particular his collection of MF3d Newfoundland views, a number of which he has entrusted me to mount.
At the time this picture was made, he was in good spirits, considering his plight. Of his diagnosis and prospects, he said, “I haven’t had so much excitement in my life, in a long time!” He went on a big road trip with his two sons (hunting in Wyoming), and has been travelling to see family and pay last respects.
This view got mounted a bit “far,” with infinity points too far apart, and even the very near foreground behind the stereo window. Not sure what happened there, but it was not my intent. Been rushed lately, which hasn’t helped.
In the summer of 2012 the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors attempted the ouster of the university’s president, Theresa Sullivan. This was a bold and misguided move, which received national attention (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/magazine/teresa-sullivan-uva-ouster.html?_r=0).
Among the events that turned a “done deal” into a retreat by the Board, and a re-instatement of Sullivan, was this rally held in her support on the Lawn in front of Thomas Jefferson’s Rotunda. Professors quit their jobs amongst a general hue and cry from the academic community, which was heard around the nation.
This image is an accidental double exposure with the Sputnik. This is not a snapshooting camera! Besides the many time consuming steps required prior to releasing the shutter, there is always the possibility that in the heat of the action some steps might be forgotten. In this case, I forgot that I’d already released the shutter, when, probably five seconds later, I decided to do it again! Fortunately, the tripod mounted camera had not moved, and the result is probably better than either image would have been alone. For one, the exposure is good! For another, now the scene is full of interesting stories, as some people moved their positions in that five second interval, whereas others turned their heads (resulting in several two-faced persons), and still others barely moved at all.
They're shooting off fireworks every Friday night during the Washington State Fair
Light painting with camera movement at the Washington State Fair
looking up toward the ceiling at the Chihuly Center
This is what it would look like if you were at the earthworm party, approaching from below, and heading toward the area where all the food and drinks were offered.
Fireworks on Lake Union in Seattle
This was captured on US Independence Day 2013 from the roof of a condo overlooking Seattle’s Lake Union. I had the roof to myself and was able to space my cameras 40 feet apart. On a previous attempt I had spaced the cameras 20 feet apart based on calculations from a Don Lopp formula. But when Don saw the images he told me that since there was nothing behind the fireworks I could go double on the distance. As usual, things go well when I listen to Don.
The cameras were 2 Hasselblad 500Cs with 150mm lenses. Film is Provia 100F. Aperture at f16 and I would count off about 8 seconds from when the fireworks started popping.
Welcome Jet Weston Co! Mazeltov!
[Editor’s note: This appears to be an encore presentation of an image we saw in January, 2009. I’m looking forward to having another viewing opportunity with this one.]
I think I goofed and already have the same or similar image in the other folio. Taken at Palo Duro State Park Texas, September 2012. Taken with the TL120 handheld. Palo Duro Canyon State Park opened on July 4, 1934 and contains 29,182 acres of the scenic, northern most portion of the Palo Duro Canyon. The Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930’s constructed most of the buildings and roads still in use by park staff and visitors.
The Canyon is 120 miles long, as much as 20 miles wide, and has a maximum depth of more than 800 feet. Its elevation at the rim is 3,500 feet above sea level. It is often claimed that Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the United States. The largest, the Grand Canyon, is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 6,000 ft. deep.
Palo Duro Canyon was formed by water erosion from the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River. The water deepens the canyon by moving sediment downstream. Wind and water erosion gradually widen the canyon.
Early Spanish Explorers are believed to have discovered the area and dubbed the canyon “Palo Duro” which is Spanish for “hard wood” in reference to the abundant mesquite and juniper trees.