Michele + Jet in Philly (Zagar A208)

Sometime around 2017 we visited Philadelphia to take in a concert by Raffi, whose music Jet just loved to pieces. It was the furthest South that Raffi had ever travelled in his very long career of live performance for young audiences (Raffi is Canadian). Raffi is getting pretty old these days, so we jumped at the chance to go see him. Of course, a stereoscopic angle had to be included, so I undertook to find some of Isaiah Zagar’s thousands of murals. He has practically covered Philadephia with these distinctive works, which have a lot of stereoscopic interest, on account of the liberal use of bits of mirror. Learn more about Zagar’s opus here: https://www.phillymagicgardens.org/about-philadelphias-magic-gardens/about-isaiah-zagar/
Photography was done with a Sputnik shooting Velvia 50. But the weather was not as bright as I had hoped for. On the ground you can see my test exposure rig, a twin rig Sigma DP1 Merrill.

Two views from the “No Spectators” show at the Renwick Gallery

In 2018 we traveled to visit the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. Descriptions below in part taken from online sources:

No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man brought the large-scale, participatory work from this desert gathering to the nation’s capital for the first time. The exhibition took over the entire Renwick Gallery building and surrounding Golden Triangle neighborhood, bringing alive the maker culture and creative spirit of this cultural movement.

FoldHaus Art Collective’s Shrumen Lumen: The elements of this sophisticated, interactive cluster of fungi each has its own particular character responding to human interaction. As participants step on the footpads located beneath each cap, the mushrooms gently grow and “breathe.zzzzz’ In daylight the grouping appears ethereal white, while at night, it magically transforms with embedded LEDs that glow through the translucent outer skin to bring the installation to life.

Truth is Beauty by Marco Cochrane. Cochrane first sculpts his pieces by hand before constructing them from steel triangles at grand proportions. Built using a mold of the original clay sculpture, the version of Truth Is Beauty in the gallery is one-third the size of the fifty-five-foot tall figure that appeared at Burning Man in 2013.

Both images acquired with my Sputnik, about 30s exposure f22 I guess, on 100ASA Fuji RDPIII film.

Cedarcrest Inn Spirit Succubus

In spring of 2012 we had a holiday in Asheville, North Carolina, for cycling on the road and in the mountains.  It was beautiful.  Though warned about the ghost, we elected to stay at the historic Cedarcrest Inn, where we got the Romeo Suite.  Of course we tried to capture an image of the ghost, meeting with limited success using some long exposures in available light (thirty seconds!).  Shot with Sputnik.

Liz 323

In the early aughts I worked numerous times with Liz, who was not just good looking, but quite a friendly jokester too.  At the time, I had this inflated vinyl chair sitting around in my studio, and every single time she came for a photo session, she would remark how much she liked it.  So finally, one day she came and again she said she loved the chair, so I asked her if she could show me how much she loved it, and could I photograph her loving it?   That’s how this session came to be.  Numerous really good images came out of the session, but probably my favorite one is this flub – the flash had failed to fire in synchrony with the shutters.  She had just gotten down on the floor to receive the chair, and teasing me, had starting moving with it just so (you know what I’m talking about), when I shot this image impromtu, really before I was ready.  All the subsequent images were well lit, but none showed this energy.  Sometimes the best images are visible and available for only a moment, and too much gear or technical complexity leaves them inaccessible… or too much thought and direction spoils them.

Shot with twin Hasselblads CM500 on a bar, electric twin release.

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Six or so years ago, when I first pursued the notion of shooting a homage to “Fred with Tires” by Herb Ritts, I made a version with my beloved M at the local Community Bikes shop. Our little boy was just a few months old and he got to watch the whole session from his portable playpen, just out of frame in this view.   This was likely shot with a sputnik.

2015 UCI Worlds from Libby Hill

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The Union Cyclisme Internationale held its World Championships in Richmond recently, to the great delight of bike racing enthusiasts all over the east coast, but especially central Virginia.  This view is overlooks the crowds on Libby Hill, the next-to-last climb on the about ten miles around loop of city streets that the riders raced (but they raced something like 15 laps).  Ben King, a Charlottesville native, was in the race (he raced in the Tour De France last year as well), and many C-villains were there to cheer him on.

I shot my pictures of the event all at this basic location.  From the very bottom of the hill looking up, and also from halfway up, and then this view looking down.  You can make out the cobbled road snaking down left and right through the crowd.  This was a very difficult surface to ride on – keep in mind the road is ridiculously steep here, and the cobbles reduce traction on your tires.  Coming around these bends, most riders tried to stay in the gutter, which was made of poured concrete – much smoother.  But the gutter was only ten inches wide or so, right next to the crowd, thus also presented its own difficulties.

I shot a twinned set of GoPros from this location also, trying to capture the action in 3d video.  Alas, one of the cameras was malfunctioning (but I didn’t know it – GoPros will sometimes be failing and not let you know….  not good!), so all I got was the “flat” video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55ZElh8q-Ws

You’ll hear a lot of noise in the video which is me fiddling with the Sputnik – I was sharing the same tripod with both cameras.  A twin camera bar held the stereoscopic GoPro enclosure on one side and the Spud on the other.

Xmas 2014

xmas2014_MFT-folio28A“Candid” tripod shot on Christmas eve, when (according to German tradition) the tree is lit for the first time.  Boris and Michele on the left, then Jet, and Sarah, his godmother.  Probably shot on Kodak E200, 1 second exposure, f8?  Focus variable throughout – not the best situation for the Spud’s optics.  Lighting is tungsten and a bit of window light. Jet’s godfather, Travis, released the shutter.

 

2 Close 4 Comfort

Just a few houses down from us is an intersection that I’ve always judged to be hazardous. Melbourne Avenue intersects with Kenwood Lane in a “T” in such a way as to invite sleepy or otherwise impaired motorists onto your property. Melbourne goes over a little rise right before meeting Kenwood on a little steep downhill. The rise prevents a motorist from seeing the stop sign until about the last hundred feet before the intersection. If you don’t know the roads, and you’re going too fast, chances are you’d not be able to stop – especially because coming over the rise your car would be “lifting,” and your traction would be reduced.

To make matters worse, DIRECTLY in the path of Melbourne, i.e. exactly opposite Melbourne, is a house, 1321. When I first saw this arrangement, I immediately thought: I would not want to live in that house; but if I was forced into it, I’d always park some kind of large, heavy, junk car in front of the house. Well, of course the current owners never do that (and amazingly, STILL don’t do it).

So, coming home at night last winter, we noticed a lot of flashing lights just down the road from us. Jet is totally into emergency vehicles, so we went to have a look. I had a peculiar suspicion. Sure enough, an automobile was lodged in the living room of the house opposite Melbourne Ave. Upon coming closer, though, I noticed that it was not 1321 – the house right opposite the intersection – but 1323, the house next to it. The car had come over the rise much too fast and could not stop. The driver had tried to make a left turn, but came nowhere near completing the turn. They jumped the curb, plowed through some bushes, and ended up as you see in the picture, entering the house at a diagonal angle.

2-close-4-comfort_MFT-folio28ATo their great fortune, the family was not at home. I ran back to our house and grabbed the Spud and a tripod. With a policeman’s permission I set up at the corner of the property. I shot a roll exposing between 15 and 30 seconds onto RXP (fuji 400ASA). Local TV and newspaper reporters were there too. In the aftermath the story circulated: this driver had been running from the police, all the way from interstate, outside the city. They had come into town at high speed, taking random turns, ending up at this very unsuitable intersection.

The house has just been repaired, some nine months later. I guess it took a while to get the insurance money straightened out. I’ve not yet talked to the homeowners about the event – I might give them a stereoview sometime as a conversation starter. But I have talked to the neighbors at 1321, where I always thought such a mishap would be the most likely: they were surprised by the event, but remain otherwise not much more concerned than before, still not parking their car in front of their house.

Construction

For the past year or so there’s been a hotel going up across the street from my studio.  Though I swore some years ago that I was “done” with “clear buildings,” the proximity and thus convenience of this building stimulated me to make one last one.  It’s the reason I bought a Sigma (DP-1 Merrill) camera: this last Clear Building will be shot with some decent resolution, so that I can make truly large prints.

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That work has been digital and is ongoing.  But on a recent early morning, I found the building looking quite attractive, complex and mysterious.  I shot it with a Sputnik, shooting cha-cha to obtain a larger baseline – maybe 12 inches – to give it more depth and interest.  I did not record exposures but I think I shot thirty seconds at f-11 onto Kodak E-200.

 

Do Not Talk To Prisoners Through Bars!

burnet-barsaTaken in Burnet, Texas in 2014. This historic jail was built in 1884 of hand-hewn rock. It has an apartment for the sheriff who is also the jailer. On the second floor the county library was founded. The former jail is still being used by one of the county departments. The city of Burnet is nestled in the heart of the Texas Hill Country surrounded by rolling hills, lakes, beautiful geologic formations and historical sites. The historic square features buildings from as early as the 1880’s and offers a variety of unique shops and eateries. Drive in or take the Hill Country Flyer Historic Train (which is what we did) from Cedar Park, located on the edge of Austin. Watch the Burnet Gunfighter’s fight it out at the Old West Town on Saturday and Sunday. Taken with the TL120, available light handheld.

 

 

Reflections on Lake Chapala, Mexico

folio-2Lake Chapala is Mexico’s largest fresh water lake. It is located 45 km southeast of Guadalajara, Jalisco, and is situated on the border between the states of Jalisco and Michoacán, at 1,524 metres (5000 feet) above sea level. It is a shallow lake, with a mean depth of 4.5 metres (14.9 feet) and a maximum of 10.5 (34 feet). The lake is also a critical habitat for several species of migratory birds, such as the American white pelican, and home to thousands of indigenous plants and animals. It is also home to a large contingent of expats from Canada and the United States. It is a gorgeous place and I can see why people retire here.