P3D OSPS - Our May Meeting

["Dr. George A. Themelis" <DrT-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

May 6th, 1998 - One year OSPS!

Dear friends,

Our meeting last night went well.  Billy Turner, with his usual
modesty (as one member said, he did not try to be modest but he
had the credentials to back him up!) showed us some of his winning
B&W prints and stereo slides.  "This one won a metal in every
competition it was entered"... We did see and some slides that
failed, and Billy explained the reasons.  One of them because it 
had two grapes on the table.  Same version with only one grape 
was accepted in all competitions.  Conclusion:  You must have an
odd number of items, never even.

Some of the things that impressed me with Billy:

- He has done 90% of his stereo photography with one camera, a
  Realist 3.5.  Same camera he got when he started.  Never tried
  another stereo camera, say a Kodak or Revere.  Or Realist 2.8,
  Realist custom, Belplasca.  He paid over $1500 for a Brackett
  Dissolver but saw no reason to buy a second stereo camera. 
  (The other 10% of his photography is with a Nikon and bellows
  for slide bar close-up stereo.)

- He only uses one film for stereo:  Kodachrome 64.  Never saw a 
  reason to experiment with anything different.  "Works for me."

- Does not own a light meter!!!  He said: "I only use the Kodak
  tables to figure exposure... I never bracket exposures.  I know
  what the exposure should be.  I only bracket composition."

So, it is possible to take PSA gold metals with a Realist 3.5 and
no lightmeter, i.e. with a modest $100-$150 investment in stereo
equipment.

In the second part of the meeting we held the last "Open"
competition.  Many excellent slides.  After all slides were shown
and scored by the judges, Billy Turner (who was one of the judges)
made a short comment on what he liked or not liked with each slide.
His comments were great!  He made every one feel very good and
proud for their work.  There were only 2-3 slides for which he
could not find anything good to say.

Overall, a very interesting meeting!  Our next and last meeting
for the season will be on June 2nd.

Regards, George Themelis - President, 
         Ohio Stereo Photographic Society, Cleveland OH.


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