DR5 Orchid
Orchid #3
Category Archives: Dragon
Takin’ It to ‘Z!’
Takin’ It To ‘Z!’
F32 and BEE There!
F32 and BEE There!
Four from Don Lopp
Rivers of Ice
Next Volcano Over
Mountain View
Hikers On The Trail
Ian Andvaag’s D23 submission
Jade Lake (Narrow Hills Provincial Park, SK)
The last round I submitted a couple images I took at Narrow Hills Provincial Park, but not at this location. This is a lovely location in the North West section of the park with seven small (but very deep) lakes with very clear water. They are called the Gem Lakes, so-named for their rich blue and green colours. A network of trails runs around the lakes with several camping locations. I pitched my tent at the Diamond Lake site for two nights, which gave me a full day from dawn to dusk to photograph the area. The trails only total a length of about 6 km, so I did about 3 loops around the lakes throughout the day. This is a high spot overlooking Jade Lake. The spruce tree in the foreground is perhaps a bit gratuitous or cliche, but I thought it looked pretty and gave a good impression of what it is like to look down at the lake from the trail. The film is Delta 100, home-developed in D-67 reversal.
Meewasin Trail – Fall (Saskatoon, SK)
Meewasin Trail – Winter (Saskatoon, SK)
This is a section of trail quite near to my apartment in Saskatoon. It’s not the most remarkable location, but due to its proximity, I do get the opportunity to photograph it a lot (although I haven’t been recently). It’s the location I go to when there is some interesting light from a clearing storm or when there is hoarfrost in the winter before it gets blown off in the wind. The power plant and waste water treatment plant discharge into the river about 15 km upriver, so this section never completely freezes over. I thought the two images contrast each other nicely, although perhaps it’s a bit too repetitive since they are both taken from nearly the same perspective.
Tundra Swan (Wascana Waterfowl Park, Regina, SK)
In my hometown of Regina, there is a bird sanctuary beside the creek. There are some “display ponds”, but the grounds are really not that attractive. Although the birds are not captive, they are not easily frightened since they are used to being fed. In the shade it was rather dim using ISO 100 film, and I really was at the limit of what I could manage in terms of exposure. Handheld Tl120, not sure of the exposure settings, perhaps 1/60 and f/8. The shutter speed wasn’t enough to freeze the swan. There wasn’t enough DOF to cover the background or the foreground, but it wasn’t particularly interesting, so I just cropped it out. Next time I’ll hopefully have a flash with me, or maybe I’ll consider pushing Provia. I enjoy viewing these type of “action shots”, but I find them very challenging to take!
Stereo Staycation!
Due to the pandemic, my road trips to the States have been curtailed and limited to shorter journeys within my home province of Ontario. With all of the beautiful Saskatchewan vistas and the spectacular travel photos that were featured in the recent go ’round of the folio, I felt that Ontario should also have a chance to show off some of its breath-taking scenery.
“SLIDE AND THE FAMILY STONED”
Who needs to travel to Kingston, Jamaica when you can easily drive to Kingston, Ontario? On the way to Kingston, why not stop in Napanee? Napanee is so named for the unusual practice of its residents, who kneel while sleeping, which incidentally is not the same as sleeping while kneeling. Napanee is full of pastoral views, such as this parking lot amusement park, seen here via an EHO stereo box camera. The Altissa-EHO Stereo box camera was manufactured in the ’30s and has no provision for focusing. It has a choice of two Waterhouse f stops – f11 and f22. This image was shot using the EHO’s original single shutter speed of (I believe) 1/30th of a second. The camera has visited a technician in the interim and has had its spring tensioned so that now it is capable of firing its shutter somewhere between 1/60th – 1/100th of a second!! Captured on expired Velvia 50 and home-processed with a CPP2 Jobo unit.
“THEIR SNOW BUSINESS”
Meet Lorrie and Ray Dillard. They reside in Barrie, Ontario, which is very far North of anything and above the permafrost line. Lorrie and Ray run a successful snow-harvesting business, selling their surplus snow to countries around the world that won’t or are unable to grow their own snow. The snow is shipped out via husky-powered sled in small individual manila bubble pack envelopes twice daily. Lorrie and Ray hired Ethel Merman to sing their social media jingle; “Their Snow Business! Like ‘Snow Business’!” This image is from a test roll I shot to determine if Rollei Superpan 200 could be reverse-processed in the sometimes-available Foma reversal processing kit. Captured with Sam Smith’s conjoined AGFA Isolettes (the “Samulette”) on the aforementioned Rollei Superpan 200, and home-processed with a CPP2 Jobo unit.
“THAT’S IT (IN SPANISH)”
People not your thing? How about taking a road trip to Cooper’s Falls, Ontario? This here gas pump is one of the most photographed entities in an almost-ghost town with not that many entities in it. Approximately 14 houses in the area are still inhabited, and the waterfall after which this semi-ghost town is named cannot really be seen (or photographed) without trespassing, as it is situated on private property. The title of this image is of the crossword puzzle question type, and by request, I am not supplying the crossword puzzle answer here. Captured with an as-fine-tuned-as-is-possible-with-a-Soviet-camera Sputnik cobbled together of donated parts, on expired Provia 100F and home processed with a CPP2 Jobo unit.
“SCREAMING HEADS OF MIDLOTHIAN”
Every year, Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day falls on the last Sunday in April. It is an excuse for my daughter and I to spend a day together photographing various locations in Ontario using pinhole cameras. I will usually pack a “lensed” camera in addition to my pinhole camera(s). On WPPD 2019 we visited artist Peter Camani’s residence which hosts his grand scale outdoor art exhibition. There are various shapes of cast concrete screaming heads situated throughout his 310-acre property near Burk’s Falls, Ontario, each sculpture being in the 15-20 foot tall range. On this occasion I had packed my Hasselblad SWC, and I can’t remember if I was consciously trying to capture a stereo cha-cha image or not. In any case, I found an uncut roll of film with three pairs of images that looked like they might work as stereo pairs. Despite some anomalies between the left and right chips, my brain can fuse these images into a stereo image. As John Thurston likes to say, “your mileage may vary”. Hasselblad SWC, yellow or orange drop-in filter, expired Kodak Aerochrome film, home processed with a Jobo CPP2 unit.
Snow Nymph
Rare sighting of a snow nymph in woods near our house. Shot with the Spud – sometimes is not bad for snap shooting! Looks mounted to beyond infinity… I think I’ll go fix that when the slide comes back.
Cedarcrest Inn Spirit Succubus
In spring of 2012 we had a holiday in Asheville, North Carolina, for cycling on the road and in the mountains. It was beautiful. Though warned about the ghost, we elected to stay at the historic Cedarcrest Inn, where we got the Romeo Suite. Of course we tried to capture an image of the ghost, meeting with limited success using some long exposures in available light (thirty seconds!). Shot with Sputnik.
Sarah gets a tatoo
Sarah was one of my more productive models back in the day, with whom I was able to create possibly the most difficult (and most erotic!) imagery of my career. One day she let me know that she was getting a new tatoo on her back, so I invited myself over to get some snaps. Shot with Sputnik, handheld I think.
James Roy’s d22 submission
Marine Memorial Park – D.C. from west
Augusta – Maine Capital Building – most northeastern capital – Maine’s 16 counties got statehood from 1820 with Missouri Compromise
Out West – maybe Wyoming – somewhere near Four Corners
Near Maroon Bells – same park – all pairs handheld with TLR
James Roy’s submission for loop d22.
Paul Gillis d22 submissions
(You can right-click on my images to view at a larger size)
Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial
I’ll start with an old image. I took this with a Sputnik back in 1998, I believe, on Ektachrome E100S. Back then I also shot some stuff with a twin Mamiya C-330 rig, but I don’t think I could have done that from the steps of the Lincoln memorial; and anyway, the light leaks in the right frame give away the camera. I think back then I only had square-format mounts, so I never mounted most of the shots from my Spud, because of the leaks. But thanks to the magic of Ian’s 645 mounts, I was able to salvage this one. In the distance you can see scaffolding going partway up the Washington Monument. That renovation took place between 1998 & 2001, but I’m not sure if the scaffolding was going up or coming down when I took this.
At Water’s Edge
A fairly closeup shot of tree trunks, one of which is still standing but obviously dead. They’re on the edge of a pond not far from me. Holmes Run, a small creek, runs out of this pond & eventually passes close to my house, and gives its name to my street. I bought a TL-120 about a year ago, but I’d been very nervous about actually taking it out & using it. This shot was from one of its first outings. The film is Provia 100, but I didn’t record the exposure details.
Drill, Grind & Dry
A picture of one of my favorite places to hang out & putter. My recently-acquired drill press sits on top of a clothes dryer. I guess I mostly took this to try out my TL-120 with flash. I bounced a DigiBee DB800 off the ceiling, and used a slow shutter speed to pick up some of the other light in the room, especially the little light built into the drill press. I meant to leave a little room above the top of the drill press; I guess I’ll have to work on correcting for viewfinder parallax when I’m up close like this.
Stainless Steel Conundrum
This is also very close to my house, in an office park on the other side of the creek. The building is occupied by some subsidiary of General Dynamics, but owned by some real estate trust in Chicago, I think. I’ve never been able to find out who made the sculpture, or if it has a name. I guess the picture would be better if it had a few people in it. Also my TL-120 & Provia 100, around sunset on a cloudy day.
Concorde G-BOAD
Concorde G-BOAD
This is an Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde on Pier 86 next to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
The Concorde was a supersonic airliner that was operated by British Airways and Air France from 1976 through 2003. This particular aircraft (G-BOAD) holds the world record for a transatlantic flight from JFK to Heathrow. While the Intrepid museum ship and its pier were undergoing renovations a few years ago, this aircraft was on display at Floyd Bennett Field Gateway National Recreation Area in Brooklyn.
This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Kodak E100G.
MiG-21PFM
MiG-21PFM
This is a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21PFM on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
The MiG-21 is a fighter interceptor designed and built in the Soviet Union. Having entered service in 1959, it is still serving in many countries.
This particular aircraft comes from the Polish Air Force, and although depicted in camoflage in this photo, is now in a high visibility scheme used during a NATO Tiger Meet competition.
This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Kodak E100G.
F-8K Crusader
F-8K Crusader
This is a Vought F-8K Crusader on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
The F-8 Crusader was an air superiority fighter that served the US Navy from the late 1950s through the mid 1980s. A unique feature of the Crusader was its variable incidence wing. Rather than have a very nose high attitude during take off and landing the Crusader’s wing would be tilted up. You can see this where this aircraft’s squadron name (Sundowners VF-111) is painted on at the front of the wing. During normal flight this would be retracted flush with the fuselage.
The Crusader was also intended to be the last US Navy fighter to have a built in gun, and was therefore known as “The Last of the Gunfighters”. Two of the guns can be seen below the cockpit. Poor air-to-air performance by the Phantom II and early aircraft missles lead the US Air Force to add a gun to its version of the F-4, and the gun returned in the US Navy’s F-14 Tomcat.
A detatchment of the VF-111 Sundowners flying F-8C Crusaders served aboard the USS Intrepid for one deployment to Vietnam. Later, while flying the F-14 Tomcat, the Sundowners appeared in the movie Top Gun.
This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Kodak E100G.
F-4N Phantom II
F-4N Phantom II
This is a McDonnell Douglas F-4N Phantom II on the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
The USS Intrepid served in the Pacific theater during WWII, as a recovery ship for the Mercury and Gemini space missions, and in the Vietnam War, before being retired and converted to a museum ship.
The F-4N was an updated fighter bomber that served the US Navy during the 1970s and 1980s. It was replaced by the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Kodak E100G.