Tag Archives: Sputnik

Cusco Cathedral, Cusco, Peru 2017

by Brent Osborne

Cusco is a fascinating town in Peru located near Machu Picchu, and is often where travelers acclimate to the high altitudes before heading off to the famous ruins. There are many old buildings built by the conquistadors, often using stones originally cut out by the Incan, scattered throughout the town. One of the more ornate and beautiful buildings is the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin, or Cusco Cathedral for short. While we were out walking one evening, I wanted to stop and get an interesting shot of the church lit up. While walking up the steps to the church, I noticed that there were two Quechuan women sitting on the steps. This was taken on my Sputnik, when it was still working properly, on Fuji Provia 100f.

The Built Environment – Architecture and Machines

by Boris Starosta

Ages ago, I shot this view of the (then) new UVA Hospital with a Hasselblad, maybe two of them on a bar – in any case this is a cha-cha to obtain the necessary stereobase, which was probably around a foot, judging from the parallax in the image. I imagine the exposure was around 30 seconds. Extra credit for the astronomers in the group that can identify the stars in the sky:

UVA Hospital, Charlottesville, VA

My “day job” is technical illustration. My clients are engineers at the University of Virginia, mostly. One day I went to visit a lab, and discovered this gigantic machine. Impossibly complex in its construction, for all I knew it could have been a time machine. So I started calling it the “time machine,” whenever I mentioned to my engineer client, and that I’d like to come in some day to photograph it. The title of the image that I finally made says about the same thing. For real, this is a Directed Vapor Deposition machine. A big electron gun hits one material, vaporizes it, and the vapors are deposited onto another material. Believe it or not, it is not a custom made machine. You buy these things retail. Cost? about $1M:

Temporal Continuum Distortion Analyzer (Posterior Aspect)

In or around 2012, I had the opportunity to photograph inside a retired coal-fired power plant not far from where I live. This plant, in Bremo Bluff, VA, was the first “automatic” coal fired power plant built in USA. “Automatic” meant in those days that most of the valves, flaps, conveyor belts, and other machinery was centrally controlled. Which means, there was a central control room, where through the use of electrical switches, one could remotely actuate any of the hundreds of valves in the plant – as these were electrically actuated. I’m sure there was a measure of fear or distrust in the system early on, as plant operators were instead used to shouting control commands at a team of plant workers, on whom one could surely better rely to get the job done than the new-fangled electric motors.

I worked on three separate days in the plant to make photographs, using with great pleasure John Thurston’s custom TL-120-55 for the wide angle views. I am forever indebted to John for his generous loan of the camera to me that year. In this view we have my old friend Chuck Holzner up there on another level (see the white hard-hat?) taking some of his own pictures. Along the left side of the view, rising up through the various levels, is one of the four burners in the plant. These are 100 foot tall furnaces (not counting the smokestack outside the building!), that included Ash removal apparatus at the very bottom, a furnace chamber 1/3 of the way up including hundreds of pipes for heat exchange (i.e. for boiling water, making steam), and at the top a variety of filters to capture particulates in the exhaust. I’ll guess this was a three seconds exposure:

Bremo B 418 Main Room

Elsewhere in the plant, I captured this view of just a tiny fraction of the pipes and plumbing that, along with grated floors and vast spaces, characterized the place. Probably a thirty seconds exposure in this dark spot:

Bremo C 515 “Pipefitter’s Nightmare”

I’ll close with an image obtained in or around 2014 at the United States Botanical Garden in Washington, DC, where I fell in love with the “Jungle” greenhouse that is central to the place. In this three-stories tall greenhouse, one can commune with a variety of lush tropical plants, even in the deep of winter, and witness the slow motion battle between the built environment and the imprisoned flora. This picture was taken with a Sputnik, a good bit after sunset – I like the interplay of just a little natural light in the background, with artificial lights in the foreground. I imagine about a ten or twenty second exposure.

USBG-1302

Beetle at the Night Market, Oaxaca, Mexico

by Brent Osborne

This was another part of Oaxaca that I wanted to shoot at night. The market was very nearby, and the nightlife carried out into the streets. I really wanted to capture a Beetle while I was there as well, since they are such a part of Mexican culture and are common throughout. Needless to say, I was happy to see one pull up and park near where I standing while taking a different photo down the street. So happy that my ‘other’ Sputnik has sharp matching lenses, it really helps to get the shot right! Shot on Fuji Provia 100f film.

Nighttime Zocalo, Oaxaca, Mexico

by Brent Osborne

I wanted to get a shot of the zocalo (or center of town) at night. There was a lot of activity in Oaxaca at nighttime, and it is such a large part of the overall culture of Mexico. It felt very safe to walk around with a tripod and camera. Not many people paid any attention to me, which was exactly what I wanted. The wind was doing me a favor in making this image a bit more interesting. Shot on my Sputnik, with Fuji Provia 100f film.

‘Chillin’ in the shade’ – Monte Alban, Mexico

by Brent Osborne

Just outside of Oaxaca is Monte Alban. They are Aztec ruins, said to be over 2,000 years old. Very neat place to go and very easy to visit while in Oaxaca. I came across this gentleman hanging out under the shade of one of the few trees within the grounds. Thought that it captured the overall sense of the heat that day. Hit at least into the 90’s, but coming from cloudy Seattle, it was a welcoming sun exposure for me. Shot on my Sputnik, Provia 100f film.

Botanical Gardens, Oaxaca, Mexico

by Brent Osborne

I recently went on a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. Such a lovely place to visit, and I can see why it is such a popular destination. This was my first out-of-the-country trip since Covid hit in 2020. I brought along my ‘other’ Sputnik, the one that I usually would leave at home as a backup. My main Sputnik never could focus properly after two attempts of repair, and started to eat film for breakfast. So, needless to say, I was pleased with the overall quality of the pictures I got with the other camera. I just feel that I could have exposed a little better, too bright for my taste. Maybe I need some ND filters next time? This is the backside of the church of Santo Domingo, located in the botanical gardens in the heart of Oaxaca. Nice place to visit if you are ever there. Shot on my Sputnik, on Fuji Provia 100f.  

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

by Boris Starosta

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.

Jim Roy’s D23 submission

by Ian Andvaag

Note: I’ve had some issues getting Jim signed up on the site, so I’m posting this description he sent to me. -Ian Andvaag

Newly included slides are mostly taken with a Sputnik acquired from Paul Gillis, but badly metered on a dark snowy day. They are “Bit of Snow” taken at our first snowstorm, “Ultimate Rest”, taken at our nearest apartment trash fort and hydrant, “A Little Snow” on Woodrow Wilson Boulevard just outside our apartments, and “Netherlands Memorial Lions”, taken at Marine Memorial Park’s Netherlands Carillon (recently restored) with a hand held Rolleiflex in the 1990s. I wish I still had that camera, since I reduced my camera pile from 88 in 2004 to “only” 28 today. The only 120 film ones left are a 1960 vintage Sputnik, 1930 giveaway cardboard Kodak 50th Anniversary, and a 1926 Rolleidoscop which needs repair.

Jim Roy

Bit of Snow

Ultimate Rest

A Little Snow

Netherlands Memorial Lions

Red Window

by Brian Reynolds
Red Window

Red Window

 

Not being one for shopping I wandered off the main throughfare to see what might be more interesting. Luckily we had spectacular weather, which lead to some very nice color contrasts.

This was taken with a handheld (string monopod) Sputnik on Fujifilm Provia 100F.

Unlike most of my mounted slides, I accidently labeled this one on the front side as seen from a viewer.

Ray Dillard – Some old, some new, some that didn’t work so well

by Ray Dillard

I continue to experiment with multiple exposures. I had some failed attempts at indoor shots; somewhere my math went horribly wrong! I will continue to work on the math and measurements and make more attempts at indoor multiple exposures.

This first image I have included, titled “Angles”, is a look at shooting not only multiple exposures, but a variety of camera angles. I was interested to try and create a combination of vertical and horizontal lines among obviously diagonally skewed lines. I was also interested in the skewed lines being confused further by clearly being objects that should NOT be skewed. I plan to do more experimenting with this angular approach to multiple exposures. This is from a recent set of experiments. Five exposures on my Sputnik, handheld, with Fuji Velvia 100.

“Angles”

 

The next image is titled “Global Focus 3”. This variation of an image posted in a previous pass of the folio utilizes a slightly different alignment of the multiple shots. This variation is presented as it solves some of the issues commented on about the original version, while having other issues that worked better in the earlier version Global Focus presented a few years back. Thus is the nature of experimentation! I am a musician who has found experimentation to be a primary element of my 40+ year career of music making. This is just an extension of that reality. Two exposures on my Sputnik with Fuji Velvia 100.

“Global Focus 3”

Metal sculpture by Canadian sculptor Roy Hickling.

 

The third image I have included is “The Incursion”. This is also an earlier shot where I attempted to carefully place an object in a specific part of another object using a quadruple exposure. It is close to what I had hoped for, but size, perspective, alignment and exposure is a massive set of variables to deal with! Same sort of challenges as found in “Angles” above. Three exposures on my Sputnik with Fuji Velvia 100.

“The Incursion”

Metal sculpture by Canadian sculptor Roy Hickling.

 

Thanks to Steve Lederman for scanning these images for me!

Steve also developed some of the film for me in his home-basement-lab and used his superior skills to aid in some of the mounting.

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.”