Tag Archives: Jobo

Stereoscopic Creatures And Beasts, Or Where To Find Them

by Steven Lederman


“BAR BAND“
Another pinhole picture, to the delight of some, and much to the chagrin of others. This is the mighty Heavyweights Brass Band entertaining a throng at Toronto’s Rail Path, an activity that started with the COVID 19 lockdown. The band decided to rehearse outdoors; a crowd soon gathered and threw money at them, so they made their Rail Path get-together into a weekly ritual. Seen here are Tom Richards, sousaphone, Lowell Whitty, drums, and Paul Metcalfe, tenor saxophone. Not pictured; John Pittman, trumpet, and RJ Satchithananthan, trombone. The image was a bit difficult to mount with the 3D World mounts – the step at the bottom left juts out on the left image more so than on the right image. I did try to use a cardboard close-up mount, but then a good portion of the image was lost. Just don’t glance down at the bottom left hand corner and you’ll be fine.
Captured with Clint O’Connor’s Limited Edition Stereo Flyer (#11 out of 100), on a Gorillapod, 2 second exposure, expired Fuji Provia 100F. Processed in my JOBO unit.


“MONOCHROME LAKE“
This was shot in a remote region of Northern Ontario, situated on Monochrome Lake, not to be confused with Black Lake, Mono Lake, Grey Lake or Gray Lake. The dumping of nuclear waste in the region caused the vegetation to devoid itself of its photosynthetic pigments, chlorophylls a & b, resulting in its inability to preferentially absorb light. This manifests as foliage with a very grey appearance. Monochrome Lake has experienced its fifteen minutes of fame – it was used as the location for the incredibly popular “Creature From The Black And White Lagoon” 3D movie franchise. It has also been featured in some episodes of the television series “Black And White Mirror”, currently streaming on one or another of those television streaming services that streams television. I guess that’s technically more than fifteen minutes of fame, as those “Creature” movies are well over an hour each. But I digress. Just in case you think I’m trying to hand you another one of my tall tales, I shot this image on Velvia 100 to prove that the area really looks like this in person. There. I knew that would convince you.
Captured with a Sputnik, handheld, on Velvia 100. Processed in my JOBO CPP2 unit.


“BEWARE OF DUCK“
I wanted to obtain some sunflowers, as one is wont to do, and was shadowed by a highly-trained, very aggressive Attack Duck. It was a situation most fowl! I was operating on a wing and a prayer as it tried to egg me on! When I finished gathering the sunflowers I told it to send me the bill!
Captured with a 3D World TL120-1 modified with a Thurston lens board and Mamiya 55mm lenses (TL120-55) on EGGspired KoDUCK E100G, sunny 16 (Sunflower 16) rule, processed in my Jobo CPP2 unit.


“SCREAMING HEADS TWO“
A wide angle cha-cha experiment. The lower left hand corner has an issue, so don’t glance down there. I’m sensing a theme! I shot this handheld, so perhaps it’s time to invest in a slider bar. From my similar submission to the recent Dragon Folio loop:
“Every year, Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day falls on the last Sunday in April. It is an excuse for my daughter and I to spend a day together photographing various locations in Ontario using pinhole cameras. I will usually pack a “lensed” camera in addition to my pinhole camera(s). On WPPD 2019 we visited artist Peter Camani’s residence which hosts his grand scale outdoor art exhibition. There are various shapes of cast concrete screaming heads situated throughout his 310-acre property near Burk’s Falls, Ontario, each sculpture being in the 15-20 foot tall range. On this occasion I had packed my Hasselblad SWC, and I can’t remember if I was consciously trying to capture a stereo cha-cha image or not. In any case, I found an uncut roll of film with three pairs of images that looked like they might work as stereo pairs. Despite some anomalies between the left and right chips, my brain can fuse these images into a stereo image. Hasselblad SWC, yellow or orange drop-in filter, expired Kodak Aerochrome film, home processed with a Jobo CPP2 unit.”

“Paper Or Plastic?”

by Steven Lederman

I had my slides all mounted and ready to ship a week ago.  They had been titled, scanned, and fit into (seamed) sleeves.  The problem was, they wouldn’t fit into the Dragon Folio box.  It was then I noticed that every other slide in the box was mounted in cardboard. Mine were in plastic mounts.  Instead of remounting my original four, I decided to save them for the next loop of Folio A.  I mounted four new selections, all in cardboard mounts;

“Same As Surly Curs” – the title is a crossword puzzle type of clue (the answer is “growlers”).  This was shot  during what is possibly the least-known photography celebration; “World Toy Camera Day”, observed on the third Saturday of October.  I employed a Holga 120 CF stereo camera with add-on wide angle lens attachments (which add vignetting) and a roll of Provia 400 to shoot a few photos on my deck to honour the occasion.  Developed in a Jobo processor in my basement using Tetenal Colortec E6 chemicals.

“DISC-guises” – this image is one I originally considered a focal point failure, but I revisited it, mounted the chips and decided to submit it anyways.  It was shot with a TL-120-1 on APX 100  film, and sent to dr5 for Dev1 processing.

“How To Winterize Your Vehicle” – I’m fairly certain that this was captured on one of a handful of trips to Mclean’s Auto Wreckers in Rockwood.  When I feel the urge to go explore this vast car graveyard, I call ahead, then I bake something with beer for the Mclean’s proprietors to gain my admission – chocolate stout cake, raspberry beer blaster cookies….you get the idea.  It’s either bake them something beforehand or share your photos with them afterwards, and sharing photos is just too much damned work!  Shot with a TL-120-1 on Fuji NHP 400 negative film, then cross-processed in Argentix (Arista) E6 chemicals using a Jobo processor in my basement.

“The Jazz Standard” – this title is also a crossword puzzle type of clue (the answer is “Autumn Leaves”).  This is a pinhole image, and I captured this just prior to Hallowe’en 2018, using one of Todd Schlemmer’s terraPIN Oskar^2 stereo pinhole cameras on a GorillaPod.   I seem to recall that the exposure was somewhere around the 1 min. 32 sec mark.  Todd’s cameras are 3D printed using environmentally-responsible materials.  This roll of Fuji RVP was developed in a Jobo processor in my basement using Tetenal Colortec E6 chemicals.

Cha Cha Cha!

by Steven Lederman

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.

Steven Lederman – August 2016

by Steven Lederman

MISSINGLINK“THE MISSING LINK” –  I decided to submit this after being inspired by a negative image of Dorothy Mladenka’s in an earlier Folio loop, or in a different folio (MF3D II?).  I actually shot this during work hours.  I was hired to shoot an industrial video and decided to bring my TL-120-1 with me.  After Principal Photography for the industrial video was completed,  I wandered around the factory pretending to take production stills.   I originally planned to get this roll developed by dr5 – but for some forgotten reason that didn’t occur.  Captured with the aforementioned TL-120-1 on some type of Ilford black and white film.  I believe I used a Vivitar 283 fill flash.

STRUNGOUT“STRUNG OUT” –  one of the plusses of the TL-120-1 is its ability to capture greatly-detailed close-up portraits.  This image was captured  during a jam session of “The Ass Moles” on December 20, 2008.  Despite the fact that we never released a commercially-available recording, we did commission Cal Schenkel (of Frank Zappa record cover art fame) to create a piece of Ass Moles-inspired art for us.  TL-120-1 using Fuji Film (Provia?) with a Vivitar 283 flash.

BARNTOBEWILD“BARN TO BE WILD” –  In 2014 I learned a slew of farms were slated for demolition so that condos could be erected on their land.   This is one of the images from the resulting photo excursion that documented some of the doomed farm buildings.  This image was captured with a TL-120-55 modified with Sam Smith’s machined lens board, using Scala film and processed in dr5’s DEV 2 (sepia).

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR LIFE“ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR LIFE” – No need for an explanation.  Captured with a TL-120-1 on Fuji 220 film using a modified winding sequence (with the red window gaffer taped shut).  Processed with a CPP-2 Jobo unit in my basement bathroom.

SILL LIFE

by Steven Lederman

SLederman-SILL-LIFEThe textures of the various elements on this empty store front caught my eye while I was exploring Toronto’s Junction district earlier this month.  A guy came out of the apartment adjacent to the store and said; “what are you shooting? Cityscapes? This is my store…I guess I should paint it, huh?”  I looked up from my crouched position and said; “no! Not on my account!”  Maybe I’ll go back and shoot a couple of rolls of black ‘n’ white film before the owner decides to turn this derelict store into apartments.

This image was captured with a stock TL-120-1, on Velvia 100 shot at 200 and then home-push-processed in my basement.  The Velvia 100 was actually 22o format – I’ve worked out a winding sequence for the TL-120 that allows me to use 220 film in it as long as the little aluminum sliding door stays closed over the red window.  When I started using 220 film in my TL-120-1 I forgot about the aluminum sliding door and had an entire roll come out with transparent red balls embedded in the images.  I gave the useable ones titles with the word “Mars” in it, i.e. “Mars Needs Gas”.  Each image on the roll looked like it was being invaded by the planet Mars.

LIBERTY FOR ALL

by Steven Lederman

SLederman-LIBERTYFORALLI paid my respects at “Colonel” Harland Sander’s grave in Louisville KY, then drove over to Jerry Lotz’s place to take a gander at his massive collection of stuff.  As luck would have it, Jerry saw me taking pictures and came out to talk about his collection.  I was invited inside to see even more of the hoard, and shot that part of the impromptu tour with a digital stereo infrared rig.

This image was captured with a 1930 Rolleidoscop on AGFA RSX II film, and home-processed in my basement.

CLOSED, HORSE

by Steven Lederman

SLederman-CLOSED-HORSE  There are pockets of Bloor Street in Toronto that are gentrified and developed, and some that are…questionable.  When I captured this image last year I assumed that the restaurant had long been abandoned, but just last week I saw them open and catering to customers.

This was shot with the twinned AGFA Isolette folder that Sam Smith created, on very expired Kodak E100 (no, that’s not an Instagram filter), and home-processed in my basement.