
4 From Bob Venezia



Timing was very unfortunate this year. I blame the Coronavirus. I received 2 folios within days of my state being identified as one of the world’s hotspots. The problem was compounded when several of my coworkers were ordered home because of potential exposures to the virus. For a while I was doing the work of 5 people. Even though by now there are 4 of us doing the work of 5, I’ve still been working long hours and not getting enough rest.
Sorry to have held onto the folio for so long. I’ll try to add some context to the photos in the coming days.
Skydiver is among my all-time favorite carnival ride shots. It’s the only time I captured the intermittent movement of this ride while it was loading. (My other captures of the ride show a more boring seamless disk when the ride was in full motion.
Photographers Playground is a slight hyperstereo shot at Bryce Canyon. At the time I was cursing these people who were messing up my nature shot. But clearly I ‘m an idiot, as you can see that they make the shot. Shot with Hasselblads at about 18 inches separation.
Fireworks (Sorry, I’ve already sent off the folio and don’t remember the exact title) is another of my hyper shots with forty feet separation.
And Edison Advances is shot with twin Hasselblads in a macrobox with a beamsplitter.










I feel like I finally got some good shots of the Tilt-A-Whirl last year at the fair. I like the combination of the magical lights, and the blue collar accoutrements. I like seeing some of the workings exposed (which is why I liked seeing Boris’ socks in the New Years photo!).
I’d been to the Puyallup (pyoo AL ip) Spring Fair on Friday night and saw a poster advertising fireworks on Saturday “at around 9pm.” I made the trek the next night, got there early, scouted where the fireworks would be and what I could get in my foreground, etc. My plan was to shoot with the TL-120, and I started capturing other images while I waited. At 8pm I had just finished a roll in the TL-120 when I started hearing boom-boom-boom behind me. Not knowing how long the fireworks would last, I zipped up my backpack, grabbed both tripods with cameras already set, and hurried over to my spot. I would have done much better with the TL-120, since I would only have to wind one camera, and there’s more to check on the 2 Hasselblads. And sync is not an issue on the TL-120.
