Back from vacation with plenty of rolls to process!

[P3D Dr. George A. Themelis <fj834@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Friends,

Vacation is over and I will soon have the stereo pictures to relive the
nice moments and the good time that we had.  I just gave 39 rolls for
processing and I have two rolls left in my cameras.  So the official film
count for this vacation is 40 rolls, as follows:  5 rolls of Kodachrome 25,
6 rolls of Fujichrome Velvia, 29 rolls of Fujichrome Sensia 100.

This film was shot using the following equipment:

- Twin Minolta X-700 SLRs w/45 mm lenses and one SLR w/45 or 24 mm lens
  (total of 4 rolls)
- Realist w/2.8 Ektar lenses modified for 7p
- Realist w/3.5 Ilex Paragon lenses

There was a time when 40 rolls was more than my annual film output with
about 10 to 15 rolls shot during our vacation to Greece.  These times are
long gone and I confirmed once again Murphy's law:  "No matter how many
rolls you take with you on your vacation, you are still going to run out of
film".  Thank goodness I found and bought a few rolls the last day in
Greece and so I was able to take plenty of pictures at Tivoli Gardens in
Copenhagen and in the airport and from the plane during the way back.

Overall, stereophotograpically speaking, this was a successful vacation but
I must wait for the film to come back and be mounted, to confirm this
statement.  While in Greece I managed to contact the few (two to be exact)
people who have expressed an interest in stereo photography.  One of them
is a young fellow (only 22 years old) from Nafpaktos who sometime back
bought a Wollensak stereo camera from the widow of a Greek-American
gentleman who retired in his home town.  He did not know how to view the
pictures that came out of the camera until we came into contact via email
and I sent him a $3 plastic viewer and heat seal mounts.  Since that time
he has taken many wonderful stereo pictures with his Wollensak (a fine
camera, first one I touch) and he is now the proud owner of a Realist red
button viewer.

Stereo photography is totally unknown today in Greece.  Back in the past
century there were a few Greek stereo photographers but Greece missed
altogether the 50s revival.  The few stereo slides that I find from time to
time are all taken by tourists who visited Greece in the 50s.  I am
trying to generate some interest by showing pictures to friends there but
it is hard to do much away from Greece.  I hope that this young bright
fellow will maintain and be able to transfer to others his enthusiasm and
give classic stereo photography part of the popularity it deserves.

-- George Themelis


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