At the back of the street car
Many years ago I took a shot with my Realist in the back of a taxi in Pakistan. I always liked the immersive qualities of that environment. I guess I tried to capture the same sensation in medium format. This is in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Chillin Shannon Falls
I liked the dappled light on the people at the base of Shannon Falls. Shannon Falls Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada. It is located 58 kilometers from Vancouver and 2 kilometers south of Squamish along the Sea to Sky Highway. How many people can you find?
Primary Colour Condos near the Vancouver Canucks building in the previous slide. Rather contrasty light.
Vancouver Canucks building near the downtown area. There seems to be a slight mis sync noticeable in the second passing vehicle.
The fire ignited on the afternoon of September 4, 2011 near Bastrop, Texas with high winds that knocked drought-weary trees into power lines (Bastrop is about 30 miles southeast of Austin). The blaze created a 16-mile-long front line and galloped at 5 miles per hour, speeding through treetops and jumping state roads. It took 250 firefighters from around the country and 160 fire trucks and other equipment three days to contain the fire. The fire devoured 32,400 acres and destroyed nearly 1,700 homes. The endangered Houston toad was believed to have lost the vast majority of its habitat in the fire. The sign in this photo talks about the Houston toad habitat. The irony is that the sign, in the upper left hand corner, says “Enter with care”. This is in Bastrop State Park where the fire consumed 96% of the park which was home to the loblolly pines, known as the lost pines. The park is slowly recovering. My photo, taken in November 2012, shows where the underbrush has already made a quick comeback. I added a photo of the fire, not taken by me.
Lighthouse on the Oregon Coast near Bandon
I didn’t get as many photo stops as I would have liked on my drive home from the NSA Convention in Costa Mesa. But I did find this cute lighthouse on the Oregon coast.
The lion Fortitude at the NYC Public Library after a snowfall.
The 2 lions at the NY Public Library have been called the most beloved pieces of public art in the city. Their names are Patience and Fortitude. This is a portrait of Fortitude the morning after a snowfall that paralyzed the area. It doesn’t look like a lot of snow but it hit the airports hard and our flight out was pushed back by more than a week.
Many acronyms have been created for the letters in “Ford”. Most of them are unflattering. I’m a big Ford fan, so I’ve created a positive acronym for F.O.R.D. – “Forgotten Old Relic Discovered”. This old Ford is resting peacefully by the side of the road in Crawfordville, Florida. I bought some infrared filters for my TL-120 and shot a few rolls of Kodak Aerochrome on that trip. This is one of the results. This particular strain of Aerochrome can be (and was) processed in E6 chemistry. The film is rated at 400, and I took exposure readings through the TL-120’s meter. The metering lens also had an infrared filter on it. I much prefer to photograph old wrecks and decaying cars over restored vintage vehicles (even though I do appreciate restored vintage vehicles). It’s been said many times, but if only these old rust-buckets could talk!
I had my TL-120 down at Toronto’s waterfront and I was attracted by the myriad of shapes, textures and colours (or colors, if you happen to reside in The States) that were migrating towards the shoreline. I kept a tight composition with the intent of creating a sort of in-camera collage. I wanted to fill the frame with as many of the various and sundry debris as I could, illustrating the contrast between man-made and natural debris, without necessarily establishing an indication of their location. This was shot on Velvia 100 using the TL-120’s built-in meter.
We used to live in an old Victorian house in downtown Toronto. Access to the garages was via an alley, and that’s where I found the door in this photograph. The door served as an entrance to someone’s garden, and I was drawn to the textures of the weathered wood, tarnished metal, and peeling layers of paint. This might’ve been one of the first shots I took with my TL-120, or it might’ve been shot with my Sputnik – I’m not too sure. What I do know is that around this time my local lab stopped processing AGFA Scala, and I wanted to determine where I should send my Scala rolls in the future. I shot a few rolls and sent a couple to dr5, and a couple to Mainphoto. This is one of the shots from a Mainphoto roll. Washed out, not a lot of contrast. I think it has a vintage aged look to match the textures on the door. It would have been a very different shot had dr5 processed it. Not necessarily better, but different.
A detail of the ride "Zipper" with sunset colors behind
Taken last year at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, Washington. Sunset colors painted the sky briefly while I scrambled to find a vantage point.
TL-120, Provia 100F, settings unrecorded.
Looking up from a walkway outside the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, Washington.
Yeah, not a whole lotta depth. But I took it and you’re gonna look at it!
It was a bit of a challenge to shoot as I wanted the lenses parallel to the ceiling and it was an awkward position from which to check my framing.
TL-120, 1/2 second at f19, Provia 100F. Taken on New Year’s Eve 2009.
An area near the Pillars of Silence
When I visited the Southwest a few years back I stopped in Page, Arizona, and hired a photoguide to cart me around to some interesting spots. There’s one spot called the Pillars of Silence where there’s a deep layer of white sandstone topped by a harder layer of rock. As the cliffs erode there are places where a hard rock is still protecting the soft sandstone directly below it so you get to an area full of white pillars each with a stone cap. It looks like an art installation. This photo is of an area right before you get to the pillars. You can see the amazing patterns made in the sandstone as it melts away. It reminds me of brain matter!
Shot with the TL-120, Provia 100F, f22, on a tripod. Shutter unrecorded.
Logs, Squamish, B.C.
On the Sea to Sky highway between Whistler and Vancouver, B.C.
Tried to get the through the window effect.
I used to travel to Upstate New York quite frequently. My friend Erich Hadfield has over 250,000 78 rpm records piled up in two barns about 20 minutes apart there. After I purchased my TL-120 I started taking it on my record buying trips instead of my Realist. This photograph is one of a series of shots of an old abandoned boarded-up school house. On the side of it is a large pentagram-type star. I was drawn to this school house because of all of the history, memories and stories it contains. I tried to imagine what this place was like when it was operative and thriving. I like the depth between the viewer and the school house, but I’m not crazy about the soft foreground grass. I’m considering re-mounting this one in a cardboard landscape mount (if I can get my hands on one) and masking out as much of the soft-focus grass as I can. I shot this on Ilford Pan F Plus, and it was processed by dr5. I shot the roll at whatever ASA his site suggests for this film.