Abandoned House, Mussoorie India

Scan000110This was the view from the Plaza hotel in Mussoorie India.   It must have been a gorgeous residence at some point.  You can see that someone is living there, or at least hanging some laundry up to dry.   Mussoorie is in Northern India at the foothills of the Himilayas.

Photographed with a TL-120 using Provia 100F pushed one stop.   I used a pod-support on a deck railing.   I think it was 1/125 @f16.

“Mermaid Parade – Twin Pillows”

Scan000111Photographed with a TL-120 using Provia 100F pushed one stop with a Vivitar 285H with a diffusor for fill-flash.  I believe it was f16 @ 1/125.   The TL-120 seems to do fine with flash sync at 1/125 even though 3D World only claimed 1/30.

It was bright sunny day for the 2014 Mermaid Parade, fill-flash saved lots of my shots from excessive shadow detail.

For me fill-flash is like that commercial for hot-sauce:   “I put that $#*& on everything!”

Taj Mahal Close

Scan000109The Taj Mahal is often seen just in the classic full view, but there’s quite a lot to look at when you get closer in.   MF3D is really the only medium that can convey the richness of all the marble inlays and carving.

This was photographed with a TL-120 using Provia 100F pushed one stop.  I believe it was 1/250 @f16.  No tripods are allowed at the Taj unless major fees are paid, so this was shot with the camera hanging around my neck using a Hasselblad waist level finder and a cable release.   October 2010.

The TL-120 attracted a lot of attention in India, at times I was mobbed with people wondering what it was.

Noodle Delirium

Noodle Delirium“Noodle Delirium” was an “ephermeral installation” that was created by the “Collectif ARG – Les Astronautes” and included in the “Unusual Passages” show in Quebec City the summer of 2014. It transformed a discreet anonymous passage into something special that people loved to walk through brushing against the noodles with their hands.

Original slide on Provia 400X taken with a tripod-mounted Heidoscop at 1/8 second at f25 on August 14, 2014.

Tourney Fountain, Quebec City

Tourney Fountain, Quebec CityTourney Foundation full viewI tried several classically centred shots of the fountain, as with the photo on the right, but I was not satisfied. I then decided to emphasize the overlapping jets of water coming from the frogs’ mouths, which I hoped might be more interesting in stereo than the fountain itself. I waited some time to view the scene with tourists in the background and without, and decided to take the shot with tourists to give more “as it is” context. The Tourney Fountain was a gift of the Simons Family to commemorate Quebec City’s 400th anniversary in 2008, and has become a popular landmark in front of the parliament. The fountain is the creation of French sculptor Mathurin Moreau and was  originally installed in Bordeaux, France in 1857.

Original slide on Provia 400X taken with tripod-mounted Heidoscop at 1/80 second at f25 on August 12, 2014.

 

Morning Dew

Morning DewI enjoy playing with back-lighting, which in this case lit up the drops of early morning dew on the grass. The uncoated lenses on the Heidoscop require careful shading to avoid flare in back-lit situations. I hope this image captures the calm I enjoy in the Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge in Quebec City.

Original slide on Provia 400X taken with a tripod-mounted Heidoscop at 1/15 sec. at F25 on August 9, 2014.

 

 

Moon Vine

Moon Vine The dew on these moon vines at sunrise seemed to give them a silvery sheen. These vines are located at one of my favorite parks in Quebec City, Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge, which housed of the residence of lieutenant-governors from 1870-1966.

Original slide on Provia 400X taken with a tripod-mounted Heidoscop at 1/6 Sec. at F25 on August 9, 2014.

 

Fiery Depths

Fiery Depths

Looking down into the pits of hell, are those the screams of your political opponents you hear? Maybe it’s only last night’s burritos talking.

Regardless, I don’t want to be pitched over the edge.

TL120-55, Ilford HP5, DR5 processing (Yes, I typo’d the title on the mount, but given the scarcity of mounts I didn’t feel the need to remount in a clean one.)

Against The Light

Against The Light

Looking over my earlier efforts at winter landscapes, I decided that my lighting decisions were too conservative and would never capture the feel of a winter snowscape. In February of 2014, I tried to change that by using more aggressive sun angles and shooting into the light. I didn’t want to go full contre jour because so much of what I find engaging are the textures of the surfaces, and MF3D is superb at capturing textures.

Here, I tried to position the camera so both lenses were shaded by the distant trunk, and positioned a flash on the left. I then waited while the earth turned, and tripped the shutter as the shadow-line reached the camera.

The result is the the best representation I’ve been able to make of a Juneau winter day. The sky isn’t blown out, but is a featureless sea with a floating sun. The trees are more than silhouettes and able to contribute to the story.

Standing Proud

Standing Proud

Standing Proud

This image has been a while in the making. After reviewing my  attempts at winter landscapes, I went out to try to do some things differently. I loaded a pack, took the first sunny day off work, and headed out to Cowee Creek where I knew I’d have moderate snow, free-standing trees, and a dramatic backdrop lit by the low afternoon sun. The film was exposed in February of 2014, processed by DR5 in May, and mounted in February of 2015.

To try to force the back of foreground tree trunk out of the shadows, I used a couple of Vivitar 285 flashes. One weak one firing forward (and slightly right) from just below the camera, and a stronger one coming from the far left.

While I think my concepts were correct, I fell short in the execution. This was the last roll of the day. It is a tested characteristic of my camera that the shutter timings start to drift at low voltages. By the time this roll was exposed, the batteries in the TL120 were failing in the cold and the right side was under exposed.

Dripping Foliage

Foliage at Cowee Creek

Foliage at Cowee Creek

While this film was exposed in February of 2014, I only mounted this image recently and Boris’s foliage efforts prompted me to include it in the folio. While it lacks the diversity of color most people associate with “foliage”, I hoped the medium would be able to convey the textures and details I found that day.

I have been generally dissatisfied with the winter landscapes I’ve made, so tried to do this session differently. Rather than try to frame with the sun behind or safely off the lens, I shot into the sun or let it come aggressively in from the side. This is a “from the side” shot with at least one Vivitar 285 providing fill against the natural light. I didn’t make a lighting sketch, but I suspect there was one above the camera and a stronger one firing from the right.

Tent Rocks near Los Alamos

Well, this one is a bit different. It’s a hyper of a formation about 1/8 mile away taken using the Sony SLT 55 with a 100 mm prime macro lens. The images were acquired as part of a rapid burst from a moving car (I’d had foot surgery and my wife was driving me about). The spacing of the shots is around 100 feet. The white formations are about 30′ tall. This is a little known site near Los Alamos.

This was transferred to TL 120 using a “4K” screen. See “Camel Rock North Face” for the details of that process.

There is a very famous grouping of tent rocks, larger and more numerous, south of Santa Fe, which some of you may know of. They occur only in a few places, including outside of Istanbul, Turkey.

I’ll be heading out to Tent Rocks proper in the summer once things have solidified.