Zeusaphone vs. Hasselblad

[beamjockey]

Here's the picture of me that ran with my article in Symmetry:

This was cropped down.

It came from a photo shoot where typical shots looked more like this:
Back in June, when the magazine needed a portrait, I got a call from Reidar Hahn, our photographer from Fermilab's Visual Media Services.

I figured Reidar was going to pose me in front of an equipment rack or something. Instead he suggested that, since we were both planning to attend a performance by Zeusaphones, he could snap pictures there. Jeff Larson and Steve Ward set up their musical Tesla coils in the parking lot of the Naperville hotel where Duckon 17 was taking place.

Reidar needed to use a combination of flash (to illuminate me in the foreground) with a long exposure time (to capture the arcs of the Zeusaphones). I think it was four seconds. I tried to be still. His remote-controlled flash setup was unhappy in the presence of powerful radiofrequency emitters, but he coped. I'm sure he's faced tougher challenges in a lifetime of superscience photography.

While I was posing, Terry Blake donned his chainmail suit and chicken-wire helmet, becoming "Doctor Zeus." He strode between the coils and began to brandish a pair of fluorescent tubes amid a storm of purple lightning. The crowd loved it. The music buzzed. Reidar snapped away.

So I was recorded for posterity by a Hasselblad with 36 megapixels. There is more detail in this photo than you wanted to see.

Here's my General Technics pin.
Here are half of my eyelashes.

All in all, given that I am quite vain, I am very glad to have these pictures (even if their full glory did not find its way into the magazine). You can never have too many photos of yourself posing in front of Tesla coils, I always say.

Comments

[kajafoglio.livejournal.com]

I am in awe. I need to work on my own cool photo collection.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

You're lovely in photos, but your problem is that you're not vain enough.

I've always loved posing in unusual settings. To get the Zeusaphone and the halftrack in the same year was a great stroke of luck.

Keep a camera handy. Teach your kids to use it. Take every opportunity to pose in cool locations, on cool vehicles, or with cool people. Don't ignore whimsical or misspelled signage.

Never pass a fiberglass mascot.

If you should happen to go on a steampunk vacation, bring a camera.

(You have the advantage of being somewhat famous. People will take pictures of you and all you have to do is harvest them from the Web.)

For inspiration, examine my Adventures in Our Solar System collection.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Fiberglass mascots are in fact one of the most important photo opportunities available to us moderns.

K.

Fiberglass mascots

[bigbumble.livejournal.com]

My brother, Peter, has noted that South Dakota reigns as the "World's Largest Miniature Golf Course" based on the number of glorious fiberglass monstrosities it contains.

[yorksranter.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

What you needed was the halftrack and the zeusaphone *at the same time*.

[kevinnickerson.livejournal.com]

I think I have photos of you with wild hair from a Wimshurst machine.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. All this time, I thought that the icon showed a rubber-powered ornithopter with one wing held down.

It makes a whole lot more sense now.

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

Impressive!

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

So I was recorded for posterity by a Hasselblad with 36 megapixels.

I'm wondering which cost more -- the camera or the Zeusaphones.

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

Nice photo, nicely composed.

I did not know they made cameras with 36 megapixels yet. Hasselblads have always been at the cutting edge, but still, wow.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

The original is 7240 x 5433 pixels.

[tigertoy.livejournal.com]

I assume that it is a digital back for a film camera. Digital backs have actually been around longer than dedicated 35mm digital SLRs. If I'm not mistaken, resolution that high has been available for more than 5 years. It comes at a price that makes the top of the line digital SLRs seem trivially cheap, though.

Hmmmmm

[techgrrl.livejournal.com]

So what is causing the slight ghost image around you, an astigmatism in the hasselblad, or are you protected with a force field?

Re: Hmmmmm

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Inability to keep perfectly still during a four-second exposure?

The reflections in my glasses indicate that the parking lot lamps were jumping around quite a bit.

Re: Hmmmmm

[techgrrl.livejournal.com]

I would have gone with the force field thing, it enhances your mystique.

Re: Hmmmmm

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Good point. From now on I shall adopt your strategy.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

Hadn't thought about Tesla coils or other sparky super-science interacting with Pocket Wizards (best-known professional brand of radio remote release / remote flash control; he may have been using them or something else), but yeah, I could imagine moments of unusual interest!

Nice photo. Nice detail :-).