Rockwood Farm Entrance 3-3

Rockwood Farm Entrance

Entrance to Rockwood Farm in Snoqualmie, Washington

A popular stop for photographers in the fall is the entrance to Rockwood Farm in Snoqualmie, Washington, to the tremendous annoyance of the locals. Dozens of people stand at the entrance and spill out into the street. There’s a wrought iron gate I’m shooting through in this shot. I do wish I’d underexposed it a bit more for richer color.

Reflection Lake Star Trails #3

Long nighttime exposure, with star trails, of Mt. Rainier from Reflection Lakes


My best guess is this is from 2010. This is a one-and-a-half hour exposure at f16 from 2 Hasselblads. These would be the 50mm lenses, and the film is Provia 100F. I don’t remember if I’d planned it this way, or if I later determined I’d gotten the exposure very wrong, but I ended up pushing the film 2 stops which was clearly the right thing to do. (I may have taken a test exposure from another film magazine to make the determination; just don’t remember). I probably had some children’s socks tied around the lenses, with handwarmers inside, to keep the lenses from fogging.

I’m impressed with the color and how blue the sky looks. Well, it is sunlight after all, it’s just getting to the scene via a large reflector in the sky. The moon would have been pretty full here. The challenge with these shots is to get enough light on the trees on the other side of the lake without blowing out the top of the mountain. I do like the reflected star trails in the water.

String of Pearls

String of Pearls

Brooklyn Bridge with the lights on

In all but one of my shots of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Manhattan side the lights are off. This is the outlier. I think they were turned off this day at 1 am, shortly after I shot this. Twin Hasselblad 500Cs with 50mm lenses mounted on a wooden bar as close as I can get them (about 4.25″ between lens centers). Provia 100f, f22, 4 minute exposure.

Base of Cascade Fall

Scan000078This image was made in 2008. Cascade Fall is just outside of Yosemite Valley. You can see it from Highway 140 as you are driving in to the valley. To make the image I used 2 Bronica SQA cameras with 50mm lenses (wide angle). The cameras were 4 inches apart on a tripod. I can’t remember the exact exposure time, but it was around 10 seconds.

Bob Venezia

  • Bryce Trail Colors
    TL-120 • Provia 100F • f/22 • shutter speed unrecorded
    This is an image that was destined for the wastebasket. Most of the image area was boring, showing loose slides of gravel, and the corner of a metal fence I hadn’t noticed. But when I stuck it in a pano mount — magic! I love the subtle colors — it reminds me of an old theatre set. To me it’s alchemy, when you’re able to take something that’s not working and spin it into something beautiful. I like this slide a lot, but maybe that’s because I rescued it
  • Stud Horse Point #4
    Twin Hasselblad 500Cs • 50mm lenses • Provia 100F • f/22 • shutter speed unrecorded
    In October 2008 I took a vacation in the Southwest US. Mandy (my wife) had less time available, so I drove down a week early to Page, Arizona, and spent some time with photographer/guide Jackson Bridges. This is one of the spots we visited. By the time Mandy flew down to meet me, she’d been spared a long drive, and I had an extra week of photography.
  • Blown Glass Cyclone #1
    TL-120 • Provia 100F • f22 • 8 seconds
    One of my favorite subjects is carnival rides at night. This was shot at the Evergreen Fair in Monroe, Washington, August 2009.
  • Waveswinger & Coaster
    Twin Hasselblad 500Cs • 50mm lenses • Provia 100F • f22 • shutter speed unrecorded
    Shot at the Puyallup (pyoo • AL • ip) Fair, September 2008. Cameras were probably butted together as close as possible, meaning about 4.25” separation between lens centers.