P3D Cleveland Review

[markaren@xxxxxxxxx (Karen Obusek)]

Across this great land of ours , citizens exercised their rights to
speak out at the polls. It was an easy turn for our club judges to cast
a few "dry run" votes in preparation for the votes that really
count.......Tuesday's slide competition entitled 'People". I had been
hard at work revolutionizing the art of stereo photography,
unaware by many, and quite frankly, is my excuse for entering the
competition ill-prepared.
My first entry entitled "One Aboard", a clever shot  of Karen standing
on a boat deck as viewed from the inside of a passenger cabin,
apparently or should I say transparently no match for the 750w x 2 TDC
heat lamps rendering an "alien abduction" lighting effect to the image,
and I as remained hypnotised by what I saw, somebody commented "smells
like something is burning".
My second image entitled "All ages show", a photo taken from behind and
between the shoulders of 2 men standing together, each wearing bright
red French War reinactment uniforms and looking out over the festival
crowd, the image rendering vibrant colors, crisp and sharp focus, and
holding up to the 1500w attack of the TDC, fell to defeat by the final
buckshot delivered by the judges. For a moment, as the slide was pushed
through the TDC carrier, the clicking sound reminded me  of a rifle
being cocked, I closed my eyes for a moment imagining taps being played
in the distance. 
Recalling my last entry of the evening involving my little niece and
nephew, buzzed up on Milk Duds and Cherry Kool-Aid, assured us of some
great action shots. The Realist at 1/150 sec. was no match for the
little roadrunners although Karen equipped with modern P&S twin rig, and
patience to ride out the sugar buzz, placed third.
My final shot entitled "On the roof", is a great action shot of Aaron
poised to jump as high as he can to see something on the rooftop of the
house. A judge remarked, "I need to see more.....what is he looking at?"
"I don't know" I thought, "Maybe that is why he wants to jump up and
see....he is as curious as you are!" The judge proceeded to explain why
the unknowns detracted from the photograph.
Dr. T, in porn star fashion, was quick to point out how well the image
was mounted, but of course the image was already scored. 
I don't want to waste one more moment wallowing in disappointment when I
could get back to my true avocation, which is completely idolizing my
work. But on the way out I was reminded not to forget my slides. I
replied, " Throw them away, there are plenty more where those came
from!" Besides, I just purchased more of Paul Talbot's slide pages to
ease some of the pain. 
                                          Mark Dottle


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