Going Back to the Same Location

June 15, 2014

Each year that I return to Hawaii, I carry with me two cameras, one digital and one film. There is one location on the Big Island that I go to each year and multiple times during the week. That place is Wawaloli Beach. It is very near the Kona Airport. As I go back, one would think that there isn’t much more to photograph. That is not true. (1) You are a year wiser (hopefully) and you see things differently. (2) The conditions in the area change. (3) There may be some places that you haven’t seen, especially along this coastline as it goes for a few miles.

This is an image that was captured in 2011 with a Fotoman 617. It is a panoramic camera that uses medium format film. I had a great time exploring this area at sunrise and looking for images to capture.

In 2012, I decided to bring a 4x5 View Camera. As you can imagine, fewer exposures were made. There was more to see and to photograph.

2013 was an eventful trip. As I placed the Hasselblad on a tripod down, the system found itself to be top heavy and the camera crashed into the rocks. This is when I met Don Slocum who runs Lighthaus Camera in Kona. He tried to fix it, but the damage was too great. At this point, I was relegated to the Digital Camera. It’s probably a better idea to go out with just one camera at a time, but this photographer was not going to listen to that inner voice. Here is an image that was taken on that trip. As you can see, there is lots to explore here. It was an adventure. I did purchase a Fuji 6x7 to expose film on Oahu.

Fast forward to this year, 2014. I went into Don’s store looking for a 24mm lens for the Digital Camera. I replaced the body of the Hasselblad and brought that along as well. Don tells me of an area along the same coast, but further North by only, as it turns out a half a mile. The lava shelf was riddled with blow holes and areas where the waves crash onto shore and cascade back into the ocean. I could have stayed there for hours, because each wave looked different. Here a couple of images from this year’s trip. If you want to look at other photographs from this year, go to the “Recent Work” page. If you are in Hawaii and need photographic equipment, go to Lighthaus Camera. They’re in Kona, Honolulu and two places on Maui. It is good to support ‘brick and mortar’ stores. We’ve already lost three stores in San Francisco. There is a website for Don’s stores that lists location and services.

Attending the John Sexton and Charles Cramer Photography Workshop

December 5, 2013

In a one week period during the month of October, I signed up to attend a photography workshop led by one of the foremost analog photographers today, John Sexton and one of the most outstanding digital photographers, Charles Cramer. It was the best of both worlds. Assisting in the workshop was John’s wife, Anne Larsen, an excellent photographer in her own right. People who attended the workshop came from all over the world, 14 all together. We all converged on Lee Vining, CA. Many who were in the group have attended a workshop with John or Charlie before, as many of them knew each other already.

Each of the participants were asked to bring a portfolio of 10 photographs. John and Charlie critiqued the set from each of the participants as well as showed and talked about their own work. One of the most useful lessons that came out was how to detect “rogue highlights” or areas of distraction in a photograph. This was accomplished by turning the picture upside down to view. The distracting highlight areas just seem to pop out.

There were different field sessions that occurred each day. The group loaded up in a caravan of cars and headed to the destination directed by the instructors. The first afternoon, we headed for Black Point at the North end of Mono Lake. As the sun went down it got really cold. I forgot to bring my gloves so the metal tripod was hard to handle. When the sun went down, we all went to Whoa Nellie Deli for dinner. This is where we ended up each night. It is located at a Mobil gas station at the junction of Highway 120 and 395. The dinners were great, but the chocolate cake was to die for.

Parking Lot at Black Point on Mono Lake by Alejandro L. Gulminelli

On the second day, the group went to the South shore of Mono Lake. This is the most popular place to see the large tufa out crops in the lake. There were other photography groups there as well.

The next morning or the third day, we left at 6:30 am to go to June Lake Loop where we created photographs of Aspen trees along a riverbank. Then we had a great breakfast in June Lake. In the evening we travelled to Lee Vining Canyon where there was a waterfall and more Aspen.

During this week in October, the government was shut down, so plans to enter Yosemite National Park had to be put on hold. So on the fourth day, the group headed back to Black Point to try to capture images of the moon rising. I wasn’t successful in this case, but possibly some of the others were able to create a photograph with the moon.

Finally on the fifth day, the government re-opened and Yosemite was accessible. In the morning we travelled to Navy Beach, an area on the South Shore that had short tufa in sand. In the afternoon we entered the park traveling up highway 120 to Olmstead Point, Tenaya Lake and finally to Weston Lake. It is great to be standing by John Sexton, Charlie Cramer or Anne Larsen to help guide the work flow, while you are composing and metering the photograph. The sun went down and we headed back to Whoa Nellie Deli.

OK, so this is starting to sound like the days of Christmas, but I have to say that the workshop was a rich and pleasant experience. So on the last day, the group mounted the vehicles and headed North to Bodie. What is it about photography and old buildings? Who knows? It was just so much fun to wander and create images. We had a picnic lunch and headed back South where we stopped along the highway to photograph groves of Aspen off the road and down a hill. From there we went back to June Lake for more photographic opportunities. This night there was no deli, but a catered dinner at the community center where we spent the week looking at portfolios and observing presentations.

The week went by fast and I feel that I have learned so much to enhance my photography. John said that the measure of success of the workshop will occur in six months when we are creating better photographs.

More images can be found on the Black and White page under Mono Lake Photography Workshop.

The Hasselblad Story

July 7, 2013

This is the last picture that I took at Wawaloli Beach with the Hasselblad before watching the tripod that it was sitting on slowly crash into the rocks. This smashed the Hasselblad on its side. There was no way to advance the film or to trip the shutter. It was dead.

I went to Lighthaus Camera in Kona and the owner, Don Slocum said he would take a look at it to see if it could be fixed. The next day, he came back with bad news. Couldn’t be fixed by him and that I should try Fred and old German guy trained by Hasselblad and now working out of Mountain View, CA.

It is on this day that I inquired about a Fuji medium format range finder. There was none on the Big Island, but Don was going to Honolulu and that he would check there and call me. On the very next day, Don called and said that he had a Fuji GW670. This is a 6x7 cm camera and would use the medium format film that I brought on this trip. I asked if he could bring it back to Kona so that I could see it. The next day, I looked at the camera and bought it. Ran back to the condo and loaded film, then started putting on the tripod plate. Here is where it gets interesting. The plate didn’t fit. Took it back and said I can’t use it if it won’t fit on the tripod. We looked at the tripod plate and it seemed that there was an adapter in it, but we were unable to get it off. Camera returned. Went back to the condo and thought, “You num-nut. You just need needle nose pliers and the allen wrench” Next, I proceeded to the Home Depot in Kona. Went to a salesman and asked where the smallest needle nose pliers were. He guided me and said, “Do you have to do this a lot of times of just once?” I said, “Just this once.” The sales guy goes, “Let’s do this right now.” So, I grabbed the 3/8” sleeve with the pliers, stuck the allen wrench in and cranked. The adapter sleeve came off. It turns out the Hasselblad camera were set up to fit 3/8” tripod hole and the adapter was inside to fit ¼” holes for all other cameras. On the same day, I went back and bought the camera back. The next morning, I went back to Wawaloli and to this shot.

Two days later, we went to Honolulu. I took a number of shots. The first roll came out of the Fuji un-raveled. I thought I may have done something wrong so I tried another roll. The same result. So I email Don and he said he would be in Honolulu the next day and he would look at it. In my mind, I though I had to return it again. However, when we tried it in the store, the rolls came out fine. The next day we went to Haleiwa with friends and I took out the Fuji to shoot. Below are the results. The Fuji GW 670 has a great lens. It is a little funky to use, but once you get use to it, its all good.

The story continues when we get back to the Mainland. I take the Hasselblad body to Fred in Mountain View to see if he could fix it. He looked at it and said it will need a major overhaul and he would let me know. One month later, Fred called and said, “Wilton (Fred pronounces Vilton), I have bad news for you. It can’t be fixed. The housing is smashed in. You can find another at KEH.com” So I went on KEH.com and found a replacement body for the Hasselblad and today it arrived. Yahoo! It is in great shape and the camera is whole again. Some say that I went through all this so I could get the Fuji. I’ll never say…..

Travel Photography when on a Tour

March 24, 2013

Venice to Istanbul Cruise

Downtown Venice taken from deck 9 of the cruise ship

Again, I set out to carry two cameras. One DSLR and a medium format film camera were my choice of tools. On this trip in 2011, I wised up and brought along ISO 400 film, both B&W and color, since I chose to leave the full size tripod at home. I carried a small miniature tripod. This thinking that there would be no chance to set up, compose and shoot on the tripod. If every shot was to be hand held, I needed a quick shutter speed, at least 1/60 second.

On the first day in Venice, the boat moved from the cruise terminal to a dock very close to downtown. I woke up early and rushed to the deck outside to see Venice from the 9th deck. Here, I was able to set up a mini tripod on a tool cabinet on deck and do one long exposures on film. The sun came up very fast, so I took a few digital shots before going to breakfast. We had a day in Venice and went on the tour of very where. Most of the shots were digital from a boat and/or gondola.

We were now headed to Split, Piraeus/Athens, Istanbul, Mykonos, Kusadasi, Santorini, Katakalon, and back to Venice. We didn’t sign up for a tour on Split, Mykonos, or Katakalon. These were small ports and just went to shore to walk in the community. There were some places to shoot there, but the sky was perfectly clear and light harsh. Still I did manage some shots in these locations.

In Athens, Istanbul, Kusadasi, and Santorini we were on a fast moving tour. There was some time in Athens at the Parthenon to wander and shoot, maybe 15 minutes. Had to be fast. The same was true in Istanbul and Kusadasi. Kusadasi was where the ruins of Ephesus were located. In Santorini we signed up for a tour, but mostly to get to the top of the hill. Most of the people live at the top of the mountain. It is here, when I was shooting with the film camera that a man exclaimed, “I can’t believe it. Your shooting with a Hasselblad!”. This in a tone of what’s wrong with you, film is dead and everyone shoots digital. My first instinct was to respond with a few expletives, but grounded myself and moved on. There are some people who have their heads buried so far up their rectum that they need a window in the stomach to see out.

Most of the film shots in Venice came when we returned and stayed two nights in a hotel. I went out early in the morning to do some time exposures with the mini tripod holding the camera. It was a lot of fun. I won’t babble much more. You can imagine that on tour, one has to take the opportunity to shoot and under the conditions that are presented to you. Hopefully, if you are in a similar situation, this will give you an idea of how to plan.

Venice storefront shop early in the morning using the mini tripod on the ground.

Travel Photography when on a Tour

March 16, 2013

One may wonder, if you are not the professional photographer like those who can spend one to six months in one location scouting the angle of light, interesting vistas, interesting people, or subjects that will capture someone’s attention then how can you take great pictures while on a guided tour. There term “Great” will differ between individuals. There is the documentary photograph that proves you were there, reportage of the architecture, the landscape, both rural and urban and the people. Aesthetic qualities are those that have artistic endeavors and/or capture a viewer’s eye. This could always be debated as to which photographs have that quality or not.

In the past three and a half years, I have been on four major trips that were heavily dominated by tours while traveling with a group of friends. This is the story of how I coped with the situation and how I captured images that I like. Not necessarily ones everybody would like.

The four trips are a Tour of China, Fall 2010,; the cruise from Venice to Istanbul and back, Fall 2011; the cruise from Boston to Montreal, Fall 2012; and now the cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong, Feb. 2013.

A decision I had to make is to what camera to bring. In each case, I ended up bringing a DSLR with a 50 mm lens and a medium format film camera with an 80 mm lens. There are some people reading this who would say, “You’re such a chuckle brain. Just bring the digital!”. OK, I love black and white and enjoy shooting with film. You may be right in bringing just one, but I’m a little stubborn when it comes to image capture. The digital is faster to compose and shoot. The film camera I tried to set on a tripod and takes some time.

The China trip started in Beijing and went to Xian, Chengdu, Hong Kong, Guillin, Suzhou, and Shanghai. There were 32 of us on the trip, so we had our own bus. There was a local guide and a national guide. Every day we were on tour.

As I found that it was difficult to set up the tripod when we were on the move. So most of the shots were digital. There were instances when we had the freedom to explore with a fixed time to be back at the bus. That’s when I was able to set up and shoot film. Like a neophyte, this photographer brought ISO 100 film, therefore needing the tripod. This or hold it very still. On top of that, I brought color and BW film.

Since you are always on the move, you have to shoot with whatever light and time of day that you arrive at a location. There is no option to wait for another day when clouds are present or the light less harsh. The trip to the Great Wall was actually a lucky day in regards to pollution. It has rained the night before. This cleared the air. We were given the direction to climb as far to the top of the wall as we could and back to catch the bus at a certain time. I lugged both cameras, tripod and my body up the wall. There were steep inclines on the wall and of course there were elderly women chomping on an apple and prancing like they were walking on level ground. I found a location and shot. Still with the pressure to get back down from the wall on time, I felt rushed.

If you get to Beijing, one of the coolest places is District 798. Kind of a artsy area with coffee shops and art galleries. The building there was an old military installation restructured for the shops. Fascinating area, but of course I was the last to get back to the bus.

Xian is where the Terra Cotta soldier’s museum is located. There is a Buddhist Temple there that is a little commercial, but a place where I found a good digital shot. No time to shoot film here.

Chengdu is where the Pandas live. I was able to go in to shoot the pictures of each of our friends who held the Panda.

Hong Kong was a fun place to visit and I got some shots of the bird merchants in an alley on film. The rest of the visit was captured on digital. Moving too fast.

In Guillin, there are beautiful hills that surround the Li River. The day was a little hazy and the sun very bright. Took a lot of shots in both film and digital, but few very good. We traveled on the river in a boat, so the tripod was set up, but still was the motion of the boat.

In Suzhou we traveled to the village of Tongli which has one of the oldest tea houses in China. The old village was good to photograph while waiting for the group to assemble. Again it was rushed to follow the tour.