Category Archives: FolioA

Ape Caves, Mt. St. Helens, Washington

by Brent Osborne

The Ape Cave is a lava

tube created about 3,000 years ago. It heads south from Mt. St. Helens volcano, stretching for about a mile and a half, narrowing and expanding into a long stretch of total darkness.

My girlfriend and a couple of friends hiked over the top of the tube to the northern entrance of the cave. By doing so, we would be able to walk through the lava tube more or less downhill, to make things a little easier. It takes a bit of time to navigate the tube due to it’s loose rocks and uneven ground. In some spots, you needed to ‘drop down’ a few feet to a lower section of the tube to continue on. This is not a place for people who are claustrophobic or those who are afraid of the dark.

It’s pitch black down there, and very good headlamps are needed to avoid any injuries. For me, this was my second time through the cave and knowing how dark it was, I brought along a pair of Profoto B1 500 watt lights to help fill the space with light.

One of the lights can be seen at the far end of the cave in the photo. This was a mistake mind you, but one that I let slide for the sake of correct exposure, composition, etc. This was taken with my Sputnik on Fujifilm Provia 100f, using a Profoto Air Remote as a trigger. I had also brought along my digital Canon 5D Mk III, but no 3D was taken with it.

If you do happen to find yourself in the vicinity of Mt. St. Helens, have a good set of knees and a decent headlamp, then I would recommend a visit.

There is a way to see a smaller section of the cave, without going the whole mile and a half. I believe it’s about a quarter of the cave, and well worth a look.

Palacio de Los Capitanes, Antigua, Guatemala

by Brent Osborne

Guatemala is a great place to visit within Central America. We arrived here mainly to visit the Mayan ruins of Tikal as part of a 3 month trip through Central America, and we found ourselves intrigued by it’s beauty and history. No doubt, Guatemala has had it rough over the years, but it still hangs onto it’s founded traditions regardless. After visiting Lake Atitlan, we managed to go to the beautiful colonial city of Antigua. Mostly known for it’s famous Easter day parades through town, we were graced with some Christian processions starting holy week before Easter. Due to our timing we couldn’t stay for Easter in Antigua, but it was nice to be there regardless.  As we were walking through the center of town, near the square, I noticed a beam of light going down the corridor onto a woman seated and reading.

Having my Sputnik camera with me, I managed to swing and take a shot. That was an eye catching moment that I caught on camera. Hope you like it! Shot on Fuji Provia 100f film. All in all, Guatemala was one of my favorite countries in Central America to visit and to shoot in 3D!

Fishing Docks, Essaouira, Morocco

by Brent Osborne

One morning, I was walking along on the outer edge of the seashore, and I came across the fishing docks of Essaouira. The place was lined up with tons of fishing vessels of all kinds, many of them moored because of a wind storm the day before. A few fishermen did manage to make their way through the storm, and began to arrive with their catch from the previous day. Of course this attracted the attention of hundreds of seagulls.

I was at first walking along the outer edge of a high wall that surrounded the main docks to get an overall wider shot of the action.

However, as we all know, being ‘down in the pits’ is a better way to get a good 3D shot. So, I climbed down to get closer, and whoosh! I was surrounded by seagulls! Prime 3D action! This one I shot with my Sputnik, on Fuji Provia 100f.

If you get a chance to visit Morocco, Essaouira is a great place to go, especially within the walls of the medina.

Wat Phra Sri Sanphet, Ayutthaya, Thailand

by Brent Osborne

Ayutthaya is a city just 40 minutes north of Bangkok by train in Thailand.  The town itself is not too impressive, but the ruins of old Ayutthaya, are fascinating. Ayutthaya was once the capital of Thailand, or Siam. It’s inner cities, surrounded by water moats, can be navigated by renting a bicycle for just a few dollars a day. Lots of biking is needed to cover all of the grounds, and at least 2 days are needed to really take it all in.

While exploring the city,  you come across multiple Buddhist statues, most of them being headless. The head of Buddha was always redeemed as being highly sought after for it’s spiritual properties, so it was often stolen. The one I photographed was no exception. There are also notable spots where fire destroyed some of the structures during the sacking of the city by the Burmese, back in 1767.  Ayutthaya was one of my favorite cities in Thailand, and one of the most memorable. In fact, I named our rescued Siamese cat after it. The name suits her well.

Overall, Ayutthaya was a great place to photograph in 3D. Tons of little alleys, and corridors of ruins. I shot this with my Sputnik, on Fuji Provia 100f.

Fantastic Bursts

by Bob Venezia

Independence Day fireworks above Seattle's Lake Union, July 2017

Independence Day fireworks above Seattle’s Lake Union, July 2017

One of my best all-time fireworks shots thanks to all the “sparkly shit!” There’s something special about the depth in this shot, which got a lot of ooohs, ahhhs, and long looks at the 2017 NSA Convention. Shot with Hasselblads separated by 40 feet and outfitted with 150mm lenses.

This year (2018) I aimed my cameras high based on the height of the fireworks from last year. That turned out to be sub-optimal, as they put on a “low show,” and I didn’t get nearly as many shots as I might have. I’m thinking next year I may try to go wide and capture the whole scene, with the barge and city background.

Galactica Bubble

by Bob Venezia

Tom Noddy blows a Galacitica Bubble

One of the stalwarts of the Moisture Festival is my good friend Tom Noddy, who does an act with soap bubbles. Yes, you read that right. Tom performs all over the world and his act can include caterpillar bubbles, yin yang bubbles, tornado bubbles, a carousel bubble, a bubble tetrahedron, a bubble cube, a bubble dodecahedron, (long time members of the folio have probably seen a number of those!) all delivered with a patter that he’s worked for probably 40 years. When Johnny Carson had his anniversary special with highlights from the last 25 years, a clip of Tom was included. Here he’s creating a “Galactica Bubble” in my living room.

Moisture Festival Finale

by Bob Venezia

Seattle’s Moisture Festival has grown to be the largest comedy/variety festival in the world. (Perhaps if they had known that when they started, fifteen years ago, they would have given it a different name.) It grew out of a collaboration of performers on the left coast vaudeville circuit and other performers from around the states and around the world. One of the inspirations for the festival was a cabaret run by the great German clown, Hacki Ginda.

I was once part of that vaudeville circuit, and many of the folks in this shot are friends of mine. This was shot a few years ago at the end of the festival, and that’s Hacki Ginda at center stage. Also pictured in the back, sporting a beard, is the great American clown Avner Eisenberg, aka Avner the Eccentric, who years ago did a one man show on Broadway to critical acclaim. The Moisture Festival has very little money to pay performers and yet they come from all over the world to participate.

Rocket Bursts

by Bob Venezia

This was from the first year I successfully shot hyper firewords bursts from my twin-rig setup. I only got a couple of shots that year, but the results were good enough to keep me trying. I used a formula I got from Don Lopp to calculate the stereo base, and I came up with 22 feet. After Don looked at the shots he said, “You know, since you don’t have anything *behind* the fireworks you could double the base. Ive been shooting with a 40 foot base ever since. Shot with twin Hasselblads fitted with 150mm lenses.

Philip’s Folio a30 Submissions

by Philip Steinman

MFscan_017 Vincent's 6th bday-Vincent’s 6th Birthday Party
My four kids sitting in our kitchen behind the cake: Valentine 7, Emilie 8, Vincent 6, and Kevin 10 with baby pics of Vincent in the foreground, surrounded by this years crop of friends, classmates, and teammates on his A’s AA little league team. A family snapshot, but hopefully something more to remember.

Kids at Paramount RanchKids at Paramount RanchKevin 10, Valentine 7, Vincent 6, and Emilie 8 These are my 4 kids at one of our favorite places to hike, explore, watch silent movies under the stars, and dream of being in a cowboy western movie. Some overlapping of images here as I manually wind the TL120 camera. I cropped this out.

MVP Swing, Hunter LaPlanteMFscan_2400_038 Hunter LaPlante-Every team has one, an MVP, only Hunter was also the 10 year old’s league MVP. 7 of his teammates scattered across this photo with 3 of them looking on (the one in the middle is my son Kevin). Hunter has a sweet baseball swing. He never strikes out and hits 3rd in the lineup of our championship team. You can see the intensity and focus in his eyes with his level perfect bat meets the ball swing.
Shot with Kodak EPR film on TL120 which gives an entirely different look (nostalgic) than Fuji Provia (realistic).

Yankees Championship PhotoMFscan_2400_040 Yankees Championship Photo-The Encino Little League Minors 2018 Championship was won by the Yankees. A year these kids will never forget as they went wire to wire 1st place and undefeated in the playoffs to capture the championship trophy.
Shot with Kodak EPR film on TL120 which gives an entirely different look (nostalgic) than Fuji Provia (realistic).

I had some problems winding the manual TL120 camera. Do you wind until the # shot is in the red viewfinder on back or do you wind until the # is in the viewer finder or passes it and the wind is complete? Because of this I had some images that overlapped at the edges (and I cropped that part out). Tips appreciated, as I usually shot with my autowind Fuji GA645w, but always cha-cha.

Submission 2018

by Nik Sekhar

 

Thanks for allowing me to share my images with you. I’ve enjoyed your images

Nik Sekhar

Ray Dillard – More of the same, yet different

by Ray Dillard

This set of slides is a continuation of my experiments in multiple exposure shots. I am using a more mathematical approach in these, calculating different exposure setting to set things in front of or behind one another based on exposure order and timing. Maybe it is working. Maybe I am just kidding myself.

The Window sm

“The Window” – This is a location I have shot at before. The following two images are also from the same location. Several earlier entries in this Folio have been shot here, also. Always with my Sputnik on Fuji Provia 100F. This image is an attempt to memorize a position in the first exposure and attempting to line up in a very specific way elements of the second exposure. Thus the spiral metal sculpture focusing the eye on “the window”.

The Gazebo sm

“The Gazebo” – A triple exposure – The title tells the story. Again, I am attempting to create interest between the various objects by not only exposure “math”, but also through placement of critical bits between the two shots. My Sputnik, purchased from John Thurston, has a nice modified viewer which made this “alignment” between shots much easier. I don’t think I could have aligned things this well with the standard viewer!

The Apple Gate sm

“The Apple Gate” – A triple exposure – Actually this is a miss on a couple of fronts. I hoped to get the “gate”, which was the last exposure, in the gap of the arched apple tree limbs. I had also hoped for better focus of the second exposure, which was the apple tree in the foreground. BUT, the exposure of the gate was just what I was hoping for! I was also pleased that my math kept this image from blowing out too far. This is what I love about experimenting!

Old and Older sm

“Old and Older” – This was a location my friend and mentor Steven Lederman and I stumbled upon on a day of looking for interesting places to shoot here in Southern Ontario. We wondered onto the property finding this VERY old barn, in the foreground behind a few other building shielding it from view from the road. The barn in the background is certainly well over 100 years old, but the one in the foreground is much older. I will probably post another shot of this older building in the future. I was attracted to the angles of the two structures roofs.

Many thanks to Steven Lederman for not only developing these rolls, but mounting my slides! The mounting is NOT something I have gotten the hang of after many hours of frustrating attempts.

Cha Cha Cha!

by Steven Lederman

I was going to call this set “Dancing in 645 Time”, but I thought that sounded really pretentious, so, I went with something equally as creative; “2018 Submissions”.  I was going to use the word “Dancing” because these four images are all cha-chas.  I am a musician, and I know there’s no such time signature as 645, but I was going to use it as part of the title as all these images were shot in 645 format.

My Thriving Ceramic Hobby

“My Thriving Ceramic Hobby” – I used to enjoy creating ceramic sculpture, and when we moved into this house (years ago) I set up a pottery shed in the backyard. Unfortunately, the equipment has lain dormant for a while now.  I am hoping to eventually resume my ceramic hobby and build some ceramic stereo pinhole cameras.  You’re looking at two Skutt kilns under plastic behind the pottery shed.  This is a cha-cha captured with a noisy Fujifilm GA645W.

Horned Sentinels On A Hot Tin Roof

“Horned Sentinels On A Hot Tin Roof” – this is self-explanatory and should be a familiar scene for almost all film shooters.  This is a cha-cha shot with a Fujica GS645W, on Kodak Aerochrome film, using a Y1 Yellow filter.  A GA645W couldn’t be used to shoot infrared film as it has film sensors that would likely fog this sensitive film.  This was captured in St. Lucia, during the December holiday season.  See all the snow?   No, I didn’t think so.

What Stays In Vegas Decays In Vegas

“What Stays In Vegas Decays In Vegas” – in February my wife and I drove from Las Vegas, Nevada to Los Angeles, California to visit family.  While in Vegas we visited the Neon Boneyard Museum.  My wife and I booked a guided tour of the Museum, and I booked myself a “Photo Walk” for the following afternoon.  During the guided tours you have to keep up with the tour group, you can’t lag behind taking photos, and you can only bring one camera.  No tripods, no extra lenses, and no selfie sticks.  On the Photo Walks, you are allowed to bring all of your gear, and you get to roam around at your leisure for about an hour and a half.  The Photo Walks happen twice a month and are usually limited to about six photographers.  If you ever book a guided tour, make sure to request Russ as your guide.  He’s been a Vegas resident since 1962, and he’s frequented most of the establishments that once displayed the signs that now reside in the Boneyard.  He knows the history of Vegas, and the backstory for all of the signs in the Museum!   This cha-cha was shot with a GS645W.  I tried to meter for balance between the highlights and shadows, but I still wound up with some blown-out highlights.  No matter, you can see what the blown-out signs on the right look like in the final slide of this set.

Vacancy Row

“Vacancy Row” – I was going to call this image “Cinnamon” as that’s what I think of everytime that I read the motel name on the most upright of the two motel signs pictured, but you all woulda thunk I wuz illiterate.  Shot with the same equipment on the same afternoon as “What Stays…”, I also had a 1930 Rolleidoscop, a CLAed 2.8 Stereo Realist, and a Panasonic 3D-1 in my camera bag.

Hruba Skala Castle

by Timo

Hruba Skala Castle Thumb

On the way to a shoot at this interesting, Czech, rock-top castle (chateaux perhaps) I spied this nice shot. The way to the building is through some winding roads and small villages. I thought I would sneak in a travel shot with all the vehicles. Travel is nice.

TL120, Provia 100f film.

Reflecting on Classic Cars

by Timo

Reflecting on Classic Cars ThumbI think this is a 1939 Chevrolet Coupe police car through the reflection in the window of a 1957 Chevrolet Deluxe Sedan police car. These cars were on display by the police at the 2017 Toronto Indy. The yellow colour of the 57 was the colour of all Metropolitan Toronto Police cars into the 70s. It is also the hidden meaning behind the lyrics of the Joni Mitchel song “Big Yellow Taxi”. Police car, not a taxi.

After focusing and setting my aperture (don’t remember what it was, but I usually shoot at 1/125 on sunny days) I waited some time for interesting people to come into the shot.

A tough choice for mounting, so this is the best I could get under the circumstances.