The Jericho Drive-In Polar Panorama Project

It’s Saturday night.  And I want to get this right.  I have my Nikon D700 camera, with the 28mm f/2.8 Nikkor E-series pancake lens, ready to go.  If I do 180 degrees on the tripod, going from the back of the drive-in to the front, I can make this work.  And in the words of…

Read More

“Ooooh, you broke it! I’m gonna tell on you…”

Here’s the problem when you work with experimental photography.  Sometimes the cameras can’t handle what you’re trying to do. Case in point. I’ve been working on this slitscan photography project for the past year.  And I think I have it all dialed in and tuned perfectly.  I’ve adjusted the slit inside the camera to a…

Read More

Answering the challenge: sʇɟǝl ǝǝɹɥʇ ɥʇıʍ uɹnʇ ʇɥƃıɹ ɐ

Fellow photographer Bennett Campbell has taken a keen interest in my slitscan pictures, noting that the photos I’ve posted – harness races, baseball pitchers – have all been shot with action traveling from left to right.  Here’s his comment: Interesting that [Tom] Dahlin’s photo faces left. As you’ve figured out by now when you crank…

Read More

The Slitscan project: learning from an expert

Okay, I can take slitscan pictures of horse races all day and night.  My Nikon EM has been modified with a razor-thin focal plane, and my 50-300 manual-focus telephoto “Rachel” lens has brought me some swank slitscan productions.  But I need to take this technology to the next level. And, in searching for new and…

Read More

Horsepower: equine versus 4×4

I’m still refining my slitscan technique, which means I’ve been visiting the Saratoga Casino and Raceway on a regular basis each Sunday.  No, I’m not praying to the spirit of St. Dan of Patch, although if such a saint existed, I’m sure many would pray for a winning exacta. Through trial and error, I’ve found…

Read More

The warehouse

Every so often, when I’m driving along I-787, I’ll see the warehouse. It’s been abandoned for years, a derelict relic along the Troy waterfront. The graffiti artists and the copper thieves have already attached the building. It’s an eyesore that a gallon of Visine couldn’t cure. But it kept catching my attention. Man, I’d love…

Read More

A ghost sign for my ghost camera

First off, I want to announce that the Downtown Albany Business Improvement District has, for its art project in 2013, a project to restore and resurrect old brickad art and “ghost signs” in the downtown area.  If you’re interested in participating in this project, read this document and submit your proposal. Okay?  Good.  Now, on…

Read More

This May, come to “A Dream in the Dash”

I haven’t been able to announce the full details of this just yet – most of what has happened has involved “behind the scenes” negotiations and the like – but today, I definitely want to share some of the good news with all of you. A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Kelly Grimaldi,…

Read More