Category Archives: FolioA

“Tanks A Lot”

by Steven Lederman

This is my brother-in-law, Gordon, and yes ladies, he’s single!  This is another shot from last year’s beer run.  Gordon plays an international online tank game, so we stopped on our way to the beer store in Vermont to shoot an avatar image for him.  I captured a few shots with a Fuji W3, and then I bracketed some exposures with the Stereo Samulette.

I have another version of this shot that I like slightly better, as the background is sharper and there’s an American flag present, but the setting sun washed out some of Gordon’s features and his pose was more rigid, so you get to see this one instead.

I realize there’s a scratch or some sort of anomaly on the left film chip.

This was handheld, shot on HP5 processed by dr5 – I think the f-stop was 16, 1/100th of a second handheld, and the distance and hyperfocal estimation was guesswork (there’s no through-the-lens focusing on this camera).

“General Store”

by Steven Lederman

My brother-in-law Gordon is a bière connoisseur.  He makes regular pilgrimages to Vermont to frequent a specialty store there that stocks micro-brews from around the globe.

Last year I decided I’d accompany him on one of his beer runs to Vermont via the quaint Quebec countryside so that I’d have an opportunity to shoot with my folding medium format camera.  If I did all the driving, I’d have control over where we stopped for a photo op.   I am pleased with how the camera performed.  I enjoy the vintage feel of this shot, marred only by the snout of the more modern vehicle peering out from the rear of the truck bed.

This scene reminds me of the subject matter that my late friend Earl Bennett was attracted to when he painted.  He studied with Thomas Hart Benton in the 1930s and for the most part painted works that dealt with small town, mid-Western life.

This image was shot on HP5, processed by dr5. I wish I could say the shutter speed was 5 and the f-stop was 5, but no such luck.  The f-stop was 32, handheld at 1/100th.

The camera was created by Sam Smith, fusing together two 1950s-era AGFA Isolette II folders.  It has AGFA’s intermediate-level f4.5 Apotar lenses on S-Prontor shutters.  When folded shut, it fits into a jacket pocket.  It’s resplendent in faux ostrich skin.  I wanted to name it “The AGFA Stereo Smith-O-lette”, but Sam liked the sound of “Sam-O-lette” better.   For some reason, when I say “Sam-O-lette” I think of Frank Zappa’s “Camarillo Brillo” and the lyrics; “She had a snake for a pet, and an amulet…”, so since Sam told me to name this camera “whatever sounds good”, I’ve named it “The Samulette”.

Krumlov Tower

by Timo

Krumlov Tower

Everywhere you go in this UNESCO protected town there is a great potential for photographers. The narrow lanes and medieval buildings also make for plenty of deep stereo subjects. This image was shot hand held on the fly at 1/125 on Provia 100f. I set the aperture while metering through the lens of my TL120 and don’t remember what it was.

Krumlov Lane

by Timo

Krumlov Lane

Shot hand held f16 at 1/125 on Provia 100f using my TL120.

Czesky Krumlov has become a popular tourist attraction in the Czech Republic, but up until the Velvet Revolution in 1989, it was just another medieval town. this place is a target rich environment.

My wife is originally Czech, and we go there every year, so you can expect a lot of my stuff to be from there. We were in a hurry when we walked past this street scene. It looked so cozy, I wanted to capture that feel.

Timo Puhakka

The Trillium

by Timo

The Trillium

 This is an older shot of mine and it says a lot about the Sputnik, since I can’t remember If I took this with it, or my  TL120. It is shot on Provia 100f and clearly a small aperture, likely f11 at 1/125 hand held.

I remember waiting an agonizing time for the sun to come out before opening the shutter.

I have taken other shots of ferrys from this location, but it is rare to see the older, paddle wheel Trillium at the Centre Island dock at the same time as another ferry, in this case the Thomas Rennie.

The Trillium was built in 1910 and restored in 1976 after spending some time resting on the bottom of an island lagoon.

Greek Theatre – Guild Inn, Scarborough, ON

by Timo

The Greek Theatre.

This image was taken at the Guild Inn, on the Scarborough Bluffs in Toronto using my Sputnik camera. I can’t remember the camera settings used but it was shot on Fuji Provia 100f. I remember putting my tripod as low as I could, since there were many people on the stage that would have created a distraction. My son Preston features in many of my shots, since we usually go on shoots together.

The Guild Inn is a property which is rich in Toronto history. The previous owner, Spencer Clark, was actively collecting stone fragments of Toronto architecture, which was being demolished to make way for the glass and steel towers that now dominate the Toronto skyline. The eight columns and Corinthian capitals of the Greek Theatre, with arches joining the columns, were saved in 1966 from the demolition of the Bank of Toronto formerly located on the corner of Bay Street and King Street. The bank had been built in 1912. They were reassembled in 1982. The blossoming trees have now been trimmed back quite a bit.

Timo Puhakka