What Dogs Want
Gizmo is no exception. No matter what it is, he’s willing to try. From meat scraps to broccoli or carrots or even roasted seaweed he’s a ready taker. Peanuts are a favorite, but if he could speak for himself I’m sure he’d say “I’ll have what he’s having.”
One of my few digital photographs captured with a Fuji Finepix S2 Pro and a 24-85mm Nikkor lens.
Peace Dividend
While I was wandering around the museum built out of the battleship USS Missouri, I came upon a rack of unused five inch shells slowly corroding on the dock. I could’t help but think just how many lives were saved because they were never used in combat. They were ready if the Navy needed them, but unused nonetheless.
Today, more than ever, deterrence has its purpose. I am thankful that America still holds the advantage rather than a power that does not value personal liberty as much as we do. Thank you veterans for being there when America and her allies needed you. The freedom that you bought with your blood is the real peace dividend.
Photographed on Fujichrome Provia 100 color slide film with a Konica Hexar Silver camera.
Horeb
The Hebrews knew it as חֹרֵב. In Greek, χωρηβ. We know it today as Sinai. It is the mountain from where the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites. The bush that burned without being consumed. It is the place where the preincarnate Christ spoke to Moses.
The steeple of Saint Luke’s Methodist Church overlooks the Olympic Peninsula from a hillside in Bremerton. The sun dropped below the horizon while illuminating a cloud lingering over the mountains. I couldn’t help but think of what the Israelites saw while Moses was in the presence of God.
Horeb
I used a Mamiya M645 fitted with a 70mm f/2.8 Mamiya Sekor lens. The image was recorded on Fujichrome Velvia 100 film. I forgot to record the exposure. I can’t imagine why.
Metropolitan in Monochrome
The Washington Metro isn’t exactly a journey across the continental divide, but it is still the most efficient way to get around the District of Columbia. Every seven minutes a new train moves government employees, lobbyists, congressional staffers, and even Smithsonian museum security guards from the National Mall to the suburbs through the tunnels and stylish underground stations under our nation’s capitol.
I found this shot while standing over the pedestrian walkway at the Navy Memorial station. The long lines of the train set against the contoured concrete walls of the tunnel complement each other as they lead toward a vanishing point. One element remains stable while the other, the train itself, is constantly in motion. Traces of blur in the passing metro car remind me of the eternal motion that marks the pulse of our county’s most influential city.
Monochrome Metro
This image is permanently engraved into a strip of Arista EDU 400 film developed in Acufine at par. The camera was a Nikon FM2 mounted on a 50mm Nikkor f/1.8D lens.
Monuments in Monochrome
I found this interesting perspective while visiting the Lincoln Memorial last month. This image brings out the details cut into one of the two neoclassical urns found at the top of the front steps. I used a #25 red filter to enhance the texture in the sculpture and intensify the contrast between the blue sky and the wispy clouds, which appear as vapor coming from the urn. The Washington Monument in the background reveals its location.
Washington and Lincoln
Photographed with a Nikon FM2 camera and a 50mm Nikkor lens. The film was Arista EDU film at ISO 400 and developed in Acufine
What Was I Thinking ?
Since I was all set up and had another tank ready, I decided to process the roll anyway to see what I would get. Would it be a black strip of plastic adorned with evenly spaced sprocket holes or would something printable emerge from the soup?
Spy
What really helped this frame, besides being deep inside the film spool in the tank, was that I shot the scene with a Lensbaby selective focus lens. My intent was to have the security camera in the same frame as the sign on the corner of the International Spy Museum in Washington DC, essentially labeling the camera for what is was. What I got was an obscured image overexposed on one side and slightly underexposed on the other. No other shot on that roll survived.
It’s ironic that the only frame to escape certain death by overexposure was the ‘Spy’. The image was exposed for 1/125 second on Neopan 400 monochrome film through a Lensbaby (version 1.0), set to f/8, mounted on a Nikon FM2 camera. The secondary exposure was unrecorded, but perhaps ‘panic’ describes it well enough.
Structural Diversity
Structural Diversity
No where in the District of Columbia have I seen contrasts similar to that used in the Canadian Embassy.
This image was captured on Fuji Neopan 400 monochrome film loaded into a Nikon FM2 and shot through a standard 50mm Nikkor f/1.8 lens.
Four Bins
Four Bins
I found this scene at Argyle, Minnesota just as the sun was leaving long shadows across the prairie. I especially enjoy how the direct sunlight contrasts with the shadow at the center of each structure. Together, with the vents in exactly the same position, they remind me of tin soldiers standing in a field to watch the setting sun.
Photographed on Fuji Velvia 100 chrome film loaded in a Mamiya M645 1000s camera fitted with a 70mm f/2.8 lens.
Dash 80
On August 7, 1955, he flew this jet through a three hundred sixty degree barrel roll during the Gold Cup hydroplane races in front of several airline executives and his boss Bill Allen. When asked why he did it, he simply responded "I was selling airplanes". He kept his job.
It’s sitting at the Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport if you ever care to see it.
Dash-80
Raw Power
I captured it in monochrome in very low light. Anyone who had seen a classic aircraft engine would instantly recognize it. The highlights and the shadows in the engine body and drive shaft with the detail in the ignition wiring and duct work suggest its hidden power, now just an exhibit in a museum.
Shot with a Nikkormat FTn and a 50mm f/1.4 lens at f/5.6 at 1/60 second on Arista EDU 400 film. Developed in Acufine at par ISO.
Technology Preserved
50mm Therapy
A few years ago, I was in the National Mall at our nation’s capitol with a Konica Hexar and a few rolls of Kodak Tri-X. I shot at night with an estimated exposure of 1/30 second at f/2.0 on ISO 400 film. The results were quite pleasing. In the near future, I intend to repeat the exercise with a 40 year old Nikkormat and a 50mm lens. Without so much as autofocus, the images created with the Nikkormat will be all mine, warts and all.
Call it therapy for the creative mind.
