Cha Cha Cha!

I was going to call this set “Dancing in 645 Time”, but I thought that sounded really pretentious, so, I went with something equally as creative; “2018 Submissions”.  I was going to use the word “Dancing” because these four images are all cha-chas.  I am a musician, and I know there’s no such time signature as 645, but I was going to use it as part of the title as all these images were shot in 645 format.

My Thriving Ceramic Hobby

“My Thriving Ceramic Hobby” – I used to enjoy creating ceramic sculpture, and when we moved into this house (years ago) I set up a pottery shed in the backyard. Unfortunately, the equipment has lain dormant for a while now.  I am hoping to eventually resume my ceramic hobby and build some ceramic stereo pinhole cameras.  You’re looking at two Skutt kilns under plastic behind the pottery shed.  This is a cha-cha captured with a noisy Fujifilm GA645W.

Horned Sentinels On A Hot Tin Roof

“Horned Sentinels On A Hot Tin Roof” – this is self-explanatory and should be a familiar scene for almost all film shooters.  This is a cha-cha shot with a Fujica GS645W, on Kodak Aerochrome film, using a Y1 Yellow filter.  A GA645W couldn’t be used to shoot infrared film as it has film sensors that would likely fog this sensitive film.  This was captured in St. Lucia, during the December holiday season.  See all the snow?   No, I didn’t think so.

What Stays In Vegas Decays In Vegas

“What Stays In Vegas Decays In Vegas” – in February my wife and I drove from Las Vegas, Nevada to Los Angeles, California to visit family.  While in Vegas we visited the Neon Boneyard Museum.  My wife and I booked a guided tour of the Museum, and I booked myself a “Photo Walk” for the following afternoon.  During the guided tours you have to keep up with the tour group, you can’t lag behind taking photos, and you can only bring one camera.  No tripods, no extra lenses, and no selfie sticks.  On the Photo Walks, you are allowed to bring all of your gear, and you get to roam around at your leisure for about an hour and a half.  The Photo Walks happen twice a month and are usually limited to about six photographers.  If you ever book a guided tour, make sure to request Russ as your guide.  He’s been a Vegas resident since 1962, and he’s frequented most of the establishments that once displayed the signs that now reside in the Boneyard.  He knows the history of Vegas, and the backstory for all of the signs in the Museum!   This cha-cha was shot with a GS645W.  I tried to meter for balance between the highlights and shadows, but I still wound up with some blown-out highlights.  No matter, you can see what the blown-out signs on the right look like in the final slide of this set.

Vacancy Row

“Vacancy Row” – I was going to call this image “Cinnamon” as that’s what I think of everytime that I read the motel name on the most upright of the two motel signs pictured, but you all woulda thunk I wuz illiterate.  Shot with the same equipment on the same afternoon as “What Stays…”, I also had a 1930 Rolleidoscop, a CLAed 2.8 Stereo Realist, and a Panasonic 3D-1 in my camera bag.

Dolomites

Picnic Table Waterfall

In July of 2014, my wife and I trail ran and trekked the Dolomites in the Italian Alps. There is a lot to see here and we opted to take a guided running tour with holomites.com. After a brief rest at this picnic table, we made an easy climb to the base of the falls.

The Cross

This view is an inspired resting place where views of the mountains and summer wild flowers surround you in every direction. After my cha-cha shot, I put my camera back in my Osprey Rev 6 hydration pack and ran to catch up.

Giant Leaves

While running along the river bank I was enamored with the giant leaves you see here. If you were to stand in the bunch, you’d be knee deep more in water, and single leaf would provide a good hat from the sun.

Dolomite Garden

I ran by many summer gardens in the ski town, but this one made me stop, take out my camera for a cha-cha shot. If you look closely at the background you can see a car on the road and few cable cars in different positions in the left and right images 🙂

All images were made with a Fuji GA645w using Provia 100F film.

Baby Vincent, 11 months

Title       Baby Vincent, 11 months
Location        Van Nuys, California April 2013

Technical      Fuji GA645w (slide bar, F22, 2”, Kodak EPR 64)

Comments         He is my little star, my darling, my 4th child in 5 years, my second son, and my future.  The only way to photograph a baby cha-cha style is while they sleep.  Here he is shot with my Fuji GA645 closeup filter, with a Benbo tripod hanging over his body.  His eyes fluttered when I pressed the release on the 2nd and 3rd exposures.  I used the 1st and 4th  exposures and got lucky because the separation of 1cm was made for pairs 1&2 or 3&4, but 1&4 also had 1cm and created the proper separation for this  3D image.

Statue of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s V-J Day Life Magazine Photograph Aboard the USS Iowa Battleship

Title:  Statue of  Alfred Eisenstaedt’s V-J Day Life Magazine  Photograph Aboard the USS Iowa Battleship

Location        San Pedro, California December 2012

Technical      Fuji GA645w (cha-cha no slide bar ), Fuji Provia F100

Comments         In 2012 the West Coast’s only Battleship opened to the public in San Pedro with the USS Iowa.   The self-guided tour takes you on a journey through World War II, the Korean War, and the Cold War to experience the life of a sailor on the lead ship of the last class of gunships.   The USS Iowa was the only ship of her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II.   Despite the 16” guns, 5” guns, missile decks, bridge, mess areas, and world famous Captain’s Cabin – with the only bathtub installed on a battleship for a President, the most interesting item on the boat for me was this statue errected of the photograph of the nurse’s iconic kiss that marked the end of World War II.  The battleship alone is certainly a symbol of this and world peace but for a public display, they chose to combine the weapon of a battleship with the softness of a kiss.  The lasting power of a single photograph lives on.

On Aug. 14, 1945 New York City’s Times Square went dark at 7 p.m. and then at 7:03 p.m.,more than 750,000 people roared in jubilation as the words “OFFICIAL—TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JAPANESE SURRENDER” blazed across the news scroll.  Elated by the news, people in the crowd were hugging and crying tears of joy, but it was a far different experience for Edith Shain, a nursing school student.  “This sailor just grabbed me and kissed me,” she said. “Any female closes her eyes when she’s about to kiss so I never saw the guy, and then I walked away. I was kind of embarrassed. I didn’t say anything about it to anyone.”  What Shain didn’t realize, until a week later, was that her “indiscretion” was caught on film. While browsing a copy of a Life magazine, Shain, then 27-years-old, recognized herself in what has became an iconic photo titled “V-J Day” (Victory over Japan) of a sailor slightly dipping a nurse in a white uniform and kissing her.  Of the kiss, Shain said, “It was very nice, and of course, it was in the days before you’d scream and go to an attorney. It was the best of times.”  The famous photo was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, a photojournalist for Life Magazine. In his memoirs, Eisenstaedt explained, “Suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed.  I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse….People tell me that when I am in heaven they will remember this picture.”  Though Eisenstaedt died in 1995 at the age of 96, the celebrated picture has not lost its significance.  In celebration of the 60th anniversary of V-J Day, Shain flew to New York City where a slightly larger-than-life-size statue titled “Unconditional Soldier” by J. Seward Johnson based on the Life photograph was unveiled on Aug. 11, in Times Square.

 

View from the Shoin Building of The Japanese Garden

Title       View from the Shoin Building of The Japanese Garden

Location        Van Nuys, California April 2013

Technical      Fuji GA645w (cha-cha no slide bar ), Fuji Provia F100

Comments         Major architectural entities in the garden include the Shoin building which projects over the lake and adjoins the teahouse. Shoin was the residential dwelling developed for aristocrats, upper class monks and samurai during the 14th and 15th centuries. The exterior of this building is authentically shoin style, but the interior has been modified to provide a place for meetings and special events. While the room does survey a panoramic view of the garden, notice the white window blinds that slide horizontally.  The Japanese garden style is to reveal only portions of the garden at a time from a seating and not the entire panoramic view at once.

View of The Japanese Garden

Location        Van Nuys, California April 2013

Technical      Fuji GA645w (cha-cha no slide bar ), Fuji Provia F100

Comments         The Japanese Garden, dedicated June 18th, 1984, is a 6½ acre authentic Japanese garden fashioned after “stroll gardens” constructed during the 18th and 19th centuries for Japanese Feudal lords.  The trees are manicured to reduce any dense foliage and promote three dimensional views that allows one to see the pines, lake, and administration building in the background.   The foot path allows two people to enter together in order to encourage courtesy and to allow the viewing of small portions of The Garden from different vantage points.

Trail with Downtown Glendale

Running back on the trail crest is just as scenic as reaching the top. There are many people hiking and running, so it is rare to photograph this area on a peak day with no people. You can see a runner zipping by in the distance, causing retinal rivalry between the Land R images.

The fun with the Fuji GA645w is that I am willing to take it where I would not take a bigger camera. Hope you enjoyed these images.

Location – Griffith Park, January 1st 2011
Technical – Fuji GA645w (cha-cha no slide bar), Fuji Provia F100

Hollywood Sign and Reservoir

The Hollywood Sign is fenced off and well protected by surveillance; helicopters will come get you if you try to vandalize it. You can go up to the trail peak just behind the Hollywood sign which is across from the radio towers seen in the distance from the previous image. This hike affords one premium 360° views, perhaps the best of Los Angeles anywhere.

Location – Griffith Park, January 1st 2011
Technical – Fuji GA645w (cha-cha no slide bar), Fuji Provia F100

Griffith Park Observatory

Trail running with my lightweight Fuji afforded me the opportunity to shoot MF3D vantage points that are generally hard to get to. I took advantage of the cha-cha method by giving a slight hyper stereo base of 4-12 “ in most of my shots. A backpack and a tripod would have eliminated me from going with my running group of 50+ people that have been doing this New Year’s run for 21 consecutive years. Although they are not in my shots, these runners inspired me to get up at 6:30AM and run 10 miles on New Year’s Day…glad I did.

Location – Griffith Park, January 1st 2011
Technical – Fuji GA645w (cha-cha no slide bar), Fuji Provia F100

Hollywood Sign and Radio Tower

On New Years Day 2011 I ran from the Griffith Park parking lot at the horse stables to the Hollywood Sign. This is a scenic 10 mile round-trip over trails. To do this trail run with a MF camera I put it in my Nike bag vinyl sack which has shoulder cord strings. I velcroed the strings together across my chest to eliminate any bag bounce during the run. All shots were taken cha-cha without a tripod by simply framing a distant object in the cross hairs of the camera and moving the camera over a few inches, one foot at most. This method works well so long as there is no movement between shots. You will see an occasional runner/hiker in these shots if you look close.

Location – Griffith Park, January 1st 2011
Technical – Fuji GA645w (cha-cha no slide bar), Fuji Provia F100