Covid Road Trip #1 was submitted to the most recent round of the Dragon Folio.
As soon as the borders to the US opened, I booked tickets for “The Presidents’ Heads”. My visit there took place in November of 2021. I met a lot of nice photographers at the Heads. A pair of them told me about this site that would eventually become COVID Road Trip #2 in April of 2022; “Old Car City” in White, Georgia. 4700 vehicles from 1918 to 1972 slowly being reclaimed by nature. It’s well-documented on YouTube.
“Twitter Barn” – Ever wonder where Elon Mollusk got the inspiration for his inventive re-naming of the Twitter platform? It was from this very barn, somewhere near the border of two States, on the way down to Georgia. TL-120-55, and some expired colour film. Could have been Provia 100F.
“Old Car City – Ford Detail” – I think this is an emblematic example of my work. Hyuk, hyuk. Sputnik, Superpan 200.
“’50 Buick OCC” – I love the 1950 Buick. GM only made that grill style for one year. Sputnik, Superpan 200.
“’50 Buick Old Car City, GA” – A different 1950 Buick. Shallow depth of field, scratch on the film. Sputnik, Superpan 200.
Tag Archives: Sputnik
Barber Shop – Syracuse, Sicily 2022
As we walked through the main palazzo in Syracuse, I noticed a barber shop and knew that I had to take a 3D shot of it. The barber was in the middle of shaving someone, so the composition with the mirrors and lighting was amazing. We were headed to another location and I took note of the shop as we passed by to come back to it later. Upon my return, it was of course closed, the barber was gone, and the lights were shut off. Regardless, I put my Sputnik up to the window and as you can see me in the shot, I took the photo. Still a fun shot to take but having the barber there working would have been much better. Shot with my Sputnik on Fuji Provia 100f.
Roman Amphitheater – Syracuse, Sicily 2022
Just outside of Syracuse is a collection of Roman ruins within the Neapolis Archeological Park. Within the park there are many sites to check out, including this Amphitheater built around 212 BC. It is the 3rd largest Amphitheater in Italy. It was in much disrepair and had been used as a quarry at some point by the Spaniards. It was just a shell of what it used to be. I tried to get the best viewpoint to show it’s size from the upper level. Having shot it in 3D, this does give it some of that ‘depth’ that it requires to show it’s true size. Shot with my Sputnik on Fuji Provia 100f.
Hanging Medallions – Pompeii, Italy 2022
Pompeii is an incredible place to visit. Not only do you feel like you have stepped back in time when you are there, but you are also essentially walking through a gravesite. It’s eeriness combined with the story of that fateful day in 79 AD, makes it all the more profound. One could spend hours walking it’s long narrow streets, peering into the empty shells of homes, and imagining the horror that would have flowed through the town that day. It really sends chills down your spine. This shot was one of my favorites that I took on this trip, however the only personal ‘beef’ that I have with this shot is that it’s a little underexposed. The medallions, I’m sure are ‘new’ and were placed there not long ago. However, I don’t know for sure, since there were no markers to say otherwise. There are many hidden gems in Pompeii, from tiny scribbles on the walls by children, hidden brothels, and splendid mosaics in hallways or doorways. Worth a visit if you are ever in the neighborhood. Shot with my Sputnik, on you guessed it, Fuji Provia 100f.
The Tourists – Palatine Hill, Rome, Italy 2022
Just outside of the main Roman Forum and Colosseum is Palatine Hill. This is where alot of the senators and statesman lived, amongst some of the most prestigious and wealthy Roman citizens. The views of the surrounding area, and it’s natural beauty made it an ideal spot for such folks. Walking around it’s remnants of the past, I noticed a couple sitting not far from us, trying to shield themselves from the afternoon sun. I knelt down and captured their ‘break’ from the heat. Shot with my Sputnik spy camera, on (the now coveted) Fuji Provia 100f.
Elysse 609
More recent work (in progress). Mixed lighting in studio, Fuji RXP 400, shot with Sputnik. Can you figure this one out? 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.
Scrutinizing Sharpness (Ian Andvaag A33)
For this loop, I wanted to get some feedback on sharpness. I’ve been working through some of Mike Davis’ spreadsheets and trying to determine if I’m leaving a meaningful amount of sharpness on the table by using a TL-120 or Sputnik. As I understand it, Mike’s contention is that it is not possible to get critically sharp slides with appreciable depth using standard 60-65 mm stereo base and normal FL lenses. I’m rather surprised by this contention after having seen many fantastic slides taken with TL-120s and Sputniks, but I know it’s easy for one’s eyes to be fooled, and I would guess that 95% sharpness looks close to 100% sharpness. I will say that I was particularly struck by David Lee’s Yosemite Fall slide that was included by John Thurston this loop, which seems impossibly sharp, and was not taken with a standard stereo base. I believe the proper way to investigate sharpness would be to shoot some scenes with resolution test charts at various distances and then to side by side A/B comparisons with the resulting slides in a viewer. I wish I could ask Don for advice, I know he occasionally did tests like this 🙁
With all this in mind, I picked out several slides which I personally believe to be quite sharp, and I would appreciate any feedback from others about any perceived lack of sharpness. Cloud Inversion should probably be considered as the “base case”. I believe the nears were around 50′ and I focused around that point, shooting at f/16 I believe. I believe this should secure more sharpness than the eye is capable of detecting in a standard viewer. I don’t really know anything about a cloud inversion, maybe this should better be called thick fog that settled into the valley. Anyway, it was rather unexpected and interesting to see when I woke up to photograph at sunrise. There is a bit of retinal rivalry in the clouds and shadows as this is a chacha with a tripod and it takes some time to set up the tripod and adjust the framing. Apparently quite a few dinosaur fossils have been found in these badlands.
Cloud Inversion
I perceive Gem Lake Reflection to have a high degree of sharpness, however I don’t think it is objectively sharper than any of my other standard TL-120 slides. I believe the perceived sharpness is largely due to the adjacency effects caused by the high acutance first developer, along with the fairly visible grain.
Gem Lake Reflection
Bryce Hoodoo, yes this is a Sputnik shot, and there probably is some falloff in sharpness towards the corners, but I’m not sure I can detect it! Maybe the pine needles at the far right are a bit soft. This is a pretty “easy” shot to secure sharpness as the deviation is quite low, (the nears are rather far away) but I would be surprised if I changed the aperture off the default f/22 hyperfocal setting. I do think the rock and ground appear sharper than the objects in the far distance, but I’m suspecting that this is more due to the haze and lack of high spatial frequency information in the distance rather than the Sputnik having overly relaxed hyperfocal markings, although it could be both!
Bryce Hoodoo
Camping Breakfast was shot at f/22 using the standard hyperfocal markings on the TL-120 and I used the entire range (the near distance was 3 meters). I might be able to detect the smallest lack of sharpness in the specular highlight on the blue water bottle, but I’m not sure. I think the exposure was 1/8 of a second, so the people are probably not perfectly sharp. Yes it was posed!
Camping Breakfast
In my opinion, Cloud Inversion does seem ever so slightly sharper than the others, but I’m not entirely convinced it is because of the more conservative DOF tolerance, but rather that the size of the plants at this distance provides a fairly high frequency subject and the low angle of the sun provides fairly high contrast, while non-hyper shots typically have inherently less high frequency detail.
So what do you think? Do you use the standard hyperfocal settings on your lenses? Or do you stop down one extra stop? Or some other technique? Ok, enough nerd talk. Sorry to ruin a perfectly good post with all this talk of sharpness! I certainly don’t think it’s the most important aspect of a successful MF3D shot, but it is fun to discuss.
Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul
Last year was our 25th wedding anniversary. Those of you who were in the original MF3D Folio II might remember my honeymoon stereos from Ireland. For this trip we went to Trenton, NJ, where my brother-in-law (who married us) is currently a Bishop of the Episcopal church, so Liz could play the pipe organ there. And then it was on to Philadelphia.
This Roman Catholic cathedral was opposite our hotel in Philadelphia. We hadn’t really thought to try and get in see the organ here. We did see the Wanamaker Organ, but I didn’t think I could get a good exposure without a tripod.
My slides in this loop show a walk on a nice day in Philadelphia to City Hall.
This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Fujifilm Provia 100F.
Swann Memorial Fountain
This is Swann Memorial Fountain in Philadelphia. Several of Philadelphia’s museums are located around this square.
This scan shows the least intrusive vignetting I had from my lens shades on this trip. Luckily the 6×4.5 mounts allow me to crop it out in this case.
This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Fujifilm Provia 100F.
Love Park
This is Love Park in Philadelphila. The statue in the foreground is very similar to ones I’m more familiar with seeing back home in New York. The traditional Philadelphia Love statue can just barely be seen on the other side of the fountain. It faces the wrong direction to get City Hall in the background.
This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Fujifilm Provia 100F.
City Hall
This is the Philadelphia, PA city Hall. Unfortunately, due to trouble with the lens shades I use, this is the only photo that was usable.
This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Fujifilm Provia 100F.
Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Israel 2018
Temple Mount is a very important site for Muslims, Jews, and Christians. It is a beautiful courtyard in East Jerusalem and is defined to be one of the holiest sites in the world. The al-Asqa Mosque is a sight to see, and since it was a beautiful day when I was there, I went nuts trying to capture it’s beauty shooting from all angles. This shot was one of my favorites of what I captured. The walled arch in the picture is called the scales of judgement, believed to be the place where people would be judged before entering the gates of heaven. Note the sundial on the arch. Israel is filled with religious history and a must see for anyone interested in the subject. Shot with my Sputnik, on Fuji Provia 100f. 
Cormorant Fisherman, Guilin, Guangxi Province, China 2018
In a gorgeous area of China, on the Li River in Guilin, there is an old form of river fishing. The fishermen use cormorant birds to catch fish. The way it works, is that the fishermen would raise the birds from chicks and the birds would then trust the fishermen. Once old enough, the birds would start fishing by instinct by diving to get the river fish. The birds would dive into the river, and come up with the fish in their mouth, which would be snatched from them by the fishermen. The birds would eventually be rewarded, albeit with smaller fish. This practice of fishing is actually not really used much anymore, and has become more of a novelty for tourists, like myself. I wanted to get an iconic image of the fisherman while I was there, but unfortunately the opportunity did not present itself. However, an easy going fisherman let me do a snapshot of him while we were walking down the riverbank. Shot on my Sputnik, with Fuji Provia 100f.
Kathmandu Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal 2016
Kathmandu Durbar Square is an incredible area of Kathmandu, filled with old temples originally built and rebuilt from around the third century. We arrived one year after a major earthquake damaged many buildings in this square. It still held up it’s integrity and prestige even after most of the damage. Sadly some of the temples were reduced to rubble and were only recognizable by placards set up by the tourist government. Due to the damage to Nepal and to it’s infrastructure, there seemed to be less tourists than we had anticipated while we were there, and allowed us to explore most areas in less crowded situations. This shot was taken in the early morning, while locals were out feeding the pigeons. Shot on my Sputnik, on Provia 100f film.