Oscar’s Hope for the Win

Two of my most successful photography creations were a mixture of B&W and color photography, capturing two images in one take. In 2011, I packed very old Ansco Pan 70mm film and AGFA Vista color print film into a vintage 616 camera, the AGFA Chief, and created The AGFA Bridge Over Ansco Lake.

Prior to the pandemic, I loaded an AGFA Clipper Special f/6.3 camera with vintage Kodak Verichrome Pan B&W film, then waited a few hours and re-shot the scene with re-rolled Kodak Instamatic Gold 200 film. Thus begat the award winning image Five Tickets to Ride Day and Night.

So … what does my little brain come up with this time?

Last Monday, I went to the Saratoga thoroughbred track for a few photos. I packed a roll of Kodak T-Max 400 film in the Pentacon Six TL camera, and shot a panorama from one end of the track to the other. Yeah, I was thinking about a Buena Vista Panorama shot, but as I took these photos, my mind went in a different direction.

I burned off one roll of film, which allowed me to capture this ELEVEN-FRAME panoramic shot.

Ooh. This is probably my strongest-ever Buena Vista Panorama shot to date. Okay … I looked over the collage … damn I should have used a yellow filter that afternoon. A yellow filter would have made this picture absolutely sparkle. Next time for sure.

But if you want to see the detail of what eleven medium-format photographs look like, click on that photo and let it open in another browser window. Yeah. That’s something.

With the camera’s tripod still locked in that specific locale, I quickly swapped out the exposed B&W film, and loaded a roll of Kodak Portra 800 film in the chassis. And just because I’m feeling a bit – shall we say – experimental, I tilted the camera to a 45-degree angle.

Here comes the first race. And horse #4, Oscar’s Hope, is tearing away with the lead.

Can I catch this horse before he runs out of my frame?

Let’s try.

Got him. Got him right as he passed the fountain. 62 years old and I still have killer shutter-button-pushing reflexes.

All right. Now let’s re-scan a few of the B&W pictures, making sure I scan the photos with their registration codes (the words “Kodak” and the frame numbers on the frame borders). And if I tilt the color photo at just the right angle … and superimpose it over the B&W photos … I can get …

Holy photo finish, Batman. The proof of concept proved its concept.

Let me think about this photo for a few moments. Just a few.

Yeah, I kinda like this image. I may do something with it.

We shall see.