This image is a medium format redo of one of my earliest stereo images, and one of my favourite places on Earth. I backpacked through England in my youth looking for stone circles to photograph. I borrowed my friend’s Revere and shot about 5 rolls of Kodachrome slides, my first experience with stereo (outside of Viewmaster). I still have my first ever hyper stereo (cha cha) slide, in Realist format (two actually). This was my proud return. I found the same spot and set up my twin Lubitel rig. Almost all shots on my Lubitels are 125th and f16. I set the shutters by recording the sound they make using Audacity, and I don’t dare try to change the speed settings. In the field, this rig is a bear to set up, so I also usually save time by leaving the apertures at f16 and wait for bright sunlight. This way I can leave the focus at the hyper focal, so I can concentrate on the composition. it’s a hyper rig, so most objects are near infinity anyhow. I trigger the rig with two cable releases. One in each hand.
The stone circle at Avebury was described by the archaeologist, Aubrey, as being like a great cathedral, compared with Stone Henge, which is more like a village church. This image shows only a small part of the circle. A large part of the town of Avebury is actually inside the circle. The stone my wife Kamila is posing in front of is called the “Barber stone” since one of the medieval residents who tried to destroy the “Pagan” circle was crushed by this stone when it was toppled, and he was found with a pair of scissors.
The new Bethel Baptist Church Park was developed while memorializing the history and significance of this land to the Fourth Ward. Fourth Ward was the site of the original Freedmen’s Town neighborhood established by freed slaves after the Civil War. Bethel Missionary Baptist, founded in the late 1800’s by the Rev. Jack Yates, has had three sanctuaries on the same site, the earliest built in the 1890’s. The most recent church building, built in 1923, was gutted by fire in 2005, but the walls are still standing. The city bought the property in 2009 to preserve the church facade and to provide park space. The Bethel Park Project restored three walls and converted the rest of the property into a park. It is a really cool place to sit and meditate.
