Frozen Log, Big Bear Lake, CA


For ‘Ski Week’ over President’s Day I took my family up to Big Bear Lake for some local skiing. We were lucky to catch a storm and some fresh snow. The weather was cold in the teens and this side of the lake froze over. I got in some running before sunset and took my Fuji GA645w with me. This cha-cha has some nice light and no water movement, so it worked out well. This was also my last roll of Fuji Provia 400x, a favorite film stock of mine. When I got home I looked on eBay and was shocked to see the sky high prices. Those 2D shooters don’t deserve this film; it should be reserved for us 3D people. My 2 cents.

Self Portrait with Bubble (Bubble Lights 2.4)

Self-Portrait with BubbleOur fearless leader John has suggested we all enter self-portraits. So here you go. A couple years ago I was preparing to have a photo session with my friend (and master bubble blower) Tom Noddy. I wanted to work out the kinks before Tom came over so I experimented. Can’t remember if I had a digital slr at the time but that would have been invaluable. I’m sure I took readings from a flash meter plus I did some tests for DOF with a tape measure running away from the camera. My memory is that the tape measure showed focus on the inch numbers 28 through 32 but the notes on this image indicate a wider range.

This is shot with the TL-120 with Provia 400X, 1/60th of a second at f22. The focus was cranked to the .8 marker. The notes indicate that my face was at 32″, the bubble at 24″. There was a large potato masher style flash aimed at the ceiling and a Vivitar 283 equipped with a lightsphere (yes, I bought one of those silly things). There was black velvet draped behind to limit the depth in the scene. Shot in my dining room.