1980s

1980

monique

This really happened... Purchase Point, in London, sent me to Hawaii to shoot for an incentive module they were producing for Xerox. When my night flight arrived late into Honolulu, the guide I had hired was nowhere to be seen. Soon there was nobody left except me... and this girl. She was in the same situation, sort of. Anyway, she offered to be my guide and model for the shoot, and I took her up on her offer. For many years, Monique Keao and I stayed in touch, as I would often go to Hawaii. Monique, where are you?

1980

cadillac

Through John Whitcomb, then at Pran Audiovisual in New Braunfells, Texas, we were hooked up with Cadillac-Fairview, the Canadian real estate goliath run by the Bronfman family of Seagrams fame. They were expanding into US markets and John was building marketing centers for their new properties... for which we made AV shows.

1980

cadillac

Most of the work we did for Cadillac Fairview was in Texas. First was a show about the history of Fort Worth. Then we started a project for a tower in Dallas. It dragged on and got caught up in the move-out of the 73rd Street studio. After closing Incredible Slidemakers, I first went to live in Dallas for several months, finishing the show, while the container moved to Hawaii.

1980

73rd st

This is the beginning of a tour... a window on the past... moments frozen in time. The next images are a series of "snapshots" taken randomly around the 73rd street studio. There are others, and as they are re-discovered and "processed" I'll add them to this little collection of memorabilia.

1980

73rd

The studio was housed in a town house formerly known as The Wannamaker Mansion. Over the years, as the business grew we came to occupy the basement and four floors. There were fireplaces in every room... and for good reason: we were living in an antique with an 18th century heating system. One time nobody was there when they delivered the firewood... can you imagine a two-chord pile of logs on a Madison Avenue sidewalk? We were so popular with the neighbors.

1980

73rd

My private quarters on the fourth floor.

1980

bedroom

My private quarters on the fourth floor.

1980

bedroom

My private quarters on the fourth floor.

1980

bedroom

My private quarters on the fourth floor.

1980

moving out

My private quarters on the fourth floor... or what's left of them in the final hours of moving out.

1980

forox

Forox room on the first floor during move-out. We kept two Forox cameras busy right to the end.

1980

light room

Light-box room on the third floor doubled as a community center and source of most gossip.

1980

gag

Gag shot at the Buhl 6-port slide multiplexer featuring Jon Bromberg (at camera), Doug Sloan (holding slide trays), and yours truly (helping Sloan).

1980

sandra

One day on a flight between Kauai and Oahu I sat down next to Sandra Sande. By the time the plane landed a half-hour later, we had planned to meet in her native Canada. During my visit to Canada she agreed to meet me in New York after I closed up the studio there. From there we went to Denver, bought a classic 750 Yamaha from Ron Fundingsland and rode it back to Vancouver.

1981

moving

The beginning of packing out of 73rd street. These boxes' numbers hit 100... out of an eventual 586-item freight manifest. That's Fred Cannizaro to my right.

1981

moving

Where'd they all go? Nobody helped much after I decided to close. Bromberg was an exception.

1981

moving

Packing out of 73rd street was like getting a doctorate in international shipping. Not bad exercise, either. The skills came in handy a few more times in the years ahead.

 

1981

moving

The proverbial scrap heap of history... all that was left of Incredible Slidemakers.

1981

container

April 28, 1981... just days before the lease ran out. I packed as much as I could fit into a 40-foot sea container and set sail for Honolulu.

1981

container

About six weeks later, in June, my container arrived in Honolulu and the fifth major chapter of my life began. The entire concept of moving to Hawaii should have been suspect from the start... but at the time my ego was assembling it's own version of reality. Anyway, I bought an old car, put all the stuff in storage at The Space Place, and moved into the basement of my friend Allan Seiden's house. I made a deal with Cliff Hinton at Convention Audio Video Company (CAVECO) and set up shop.

1981

container

I arrived in Hawaii with the expectation of setting up a multi-image studio in Honolulu. With the help of my lifelong friend Allan Seiden, a successful writer living there, I staged a huge demo at the Sheraton Waikiki. But it didn’t work. Hawaii wasn’t ready for big-time AV and mainland producers wanted to come to Hawaii themselves. Within a year I had run through the money and started selling “Hawaiian Panoramas” on the Honolulu zoo fence to pay rent.

1983

panoramas

To make ends meet I started selling framed pictures on the Honolulu Zoo Fence. Those were heady days. Living with Sandra in Hawaii and being part of an art show... very different from the AV world of New York. However we were going broke.

1981

house

At almost the exact time I ran out of money in Hawaii, Lindsay Rodda called from Australia to ask for help producing a Ford show. He also wanted me to teach his staff at Sonar Graphics the kinds of special effects that had polished my reputation. Sandra and I arrived at Lindsay’s house in Melbourne having been married in Vancouver the week before. His house featured a huge pool and he was an attentive host, together with his friend and colleague Bette Murray.

1981

rhoda

Sandra and I stayed with Lindsay at his house for the first few weeks in Melbourne. Lindsay was quite a wine aficionado. Bette Murray was a frequent dinner guest.

1983

22nd cake

Sandra's 22nd: a cake decorated with an Australian Koala Bear and served up in Melbourne. Australia was good to us and for us. We worked hard but had fun and lived in a New World. As our employer, Lindsay Rodda, was the ultimate "organization man," we had sufficient time off to travel around, and I even wrote a feature-film screenplay.

1981

parents

My parents both loved the theater. Dad studied at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Mom was a singer at heart and taught piano to make ends meet. They played together in local Renaissance Festivals.

1982

family

If it's August, we must be in East Marion, Long Island... that’s how it was for years. It’s where the Mesney family had vacationed since 1955. In 1982, Sandra and I visited my parents and two sisters there (Sandra is behind the camera). That was the last time for me and since then the little cottage has been replaced.

1984

family

Family and friends at the Mesney summer cottage in East Marion, New York. Left to right: Wayne Odds, Dorothy Mesney, Peter Mesney, Barbara Mesney, Kathy Mesney, Sandra Sande.

1983

chris

Chris Korody at Image Stream saved my ass after my second attempt at making in Hawaii left me selling tourists photos in the Honolulu "Zoo Fence" Art Show. By then Sandra Sande and I were a tight team and Chris brought us in to help out on a Yamaha show, working with Ted Iserman, Brad Hood, and Bill Aylward. Image Stream was Camelot… the best people with the best tools making the best shows for the best clients. After hours I would give Julio Campos programming pointers, which he has long since put to good use.

1984

swden

Sven Lidbeck (center) and Kurt Hjelt were the original partners in Audio Visual Centrum AB (AVC). Saab Automobile was a client. But AVC had never done the kind of big show that Saab’s Lars Einar wanted for the launch of the Saab 9000. Lars had visited my studio in New York after seeing our stand at NAVA. He told AVC he wanted me to do the show. Thus charged, Sven Lidbeck called me and offered the job ...and a week later Sandra and I arrived in Sweden.

1984

mesney

Here I am at AVC in Stockholm, probably working on the Saab 9000 launch show. At first I thought that SAV projectors were heavy, slow and clunky... then I realized it was because American ones were so "plastic" and flimsy.

1984

apt

Sandra Sande and I lived at Heleneborgsgaten 14, in this flat, until we split up in 1985. It was fairly spartan but we hadn't planning on being in Stockholm more than a few months.

1984

lars

Lars Hellquist and I traveled all over Sweden photographing the operations of Linjeflygg, the domestic division of SAS. It was all shot in the winter, and mostly in northern Sweden. Since then I have never, ever complained about being cold. We spent endless hours debating dissolve rates, “third images,” AVL versus Dataton, Hasselblad versus Nikon, etc.. Lasse makes the best moose stew and his homemade snapps isn’t bad either.

1984

snow

By the winter of 1984 Sandra and I had been in Sweden for 10 months. We were doing Saab and Volvo simultaneously with two groups of freelancers, mostly from the Incredible Slidemakers and Image Stream families. AVC sent us all on a Christmas ski trip. Left to right: Andreas Wherli, Susan Shields, Wendy Kauffman, Sandra Sande (seated) and Kark Shields.

1984

ski trip

AVC ski trip. Left to right: Sandra Sande, Marius Wherli.

1984

ski trip

AVC ski trip. Sandra Sande chilling.

1984

sandra

AVC ski trip. Sandra Sande seems to... well... what? Me… I'm lighting up again.

1984

susan

AVC ski trip. Susan Shields pretending we're all on Melrose...

1984

trip

AVC ski trip. That's snaps that Marius is holding, not wine. Carl & Susan seem to understand.

1984

mesney

Life at AVC. My culinary avocation was beginning to accelerate... already I was cleaning up.

1984

ski trip

AVC ski trip. Wendy Kaufman seems beyond even chill....

1984

trip

AVC ski trip. Carl & Susan Shields... "a little while later...."

1984

trip

AVC ski trip. The deal here is that Marius has put the bottle of snapps inside the snowman. Wendy seems to be getting it... like maybe.

1984

driving in snow

Learning to drive in snow... even Saab’s famous handling couldn’t keep me on the road. Of course, going 100 km/h on ice isn’t the wisest idea even if you do have studded tires. Marius Wherli, Susan & Karl Shields, Bill Aylward and Sandra were all a bit shaken. I thought it was fun.

1984

mesney

Bengt Sundlin snapped this at Gibraltar when the two of us made the haul down there from a Saab shoot in Malaga, Spain. From our base by the beach we would drive into the Sierra Mountains to shoot the new Saab 9000 in relative secrecy. . Bengt didn’t mind complicated set-ups and one night watched as he set up colored strobes around a replica Rodin “Thinker” …in 25 below zero Celsius weather.

1984

russia

Sandra and I spent a long weekend visiting St. Petersburg. It was my first trip behind the famous “Iron Curtain.” You felt intrigue... thinking about all the hidden cameras and microphones recording you. We went off on our own one day, got totally lost, and had the best time because of that... debunking propaganda. At a nightclub we watched a Russian band do perfect imitations of major Western pop groups.

1984

sandra

Filip Jarnehag, Sandra Sande and Juki Nakamura in Norway, on a Saab shoot. We all worked for AVC then... Filip was my Forox camera effects student; Yuki was one of the two company photographers. Most of the Saab photo work was done in Norway. You could shoot winter stuff on top of the fjords and summer stuff in the valley. Wherever you go there it is hard to go wrong in terms of pastoral, scenic spendor.

1984

show

All decked out for the world premier of the Saab 9000, at Kolmorden, Sweden. Behind me are Sandra Sande and Bo Ströman, AVC’s account manager for Saab. Next to me is Kjell Gustafsson, staging. It was a brand new luxury hotel but the power took huge hits from the kitchen and we couldn't get the show to work. In the end an Army generator was called in, and that’s what ran the show.

1984

norway

After the launch show for the Saab 9000, Lars Einar, our client, organized a 900 Turbo for us to take on holiday. We drove down through Sweden’s glass country and across Norway to visit Sandra’s ancestral home in Sande. Then we drove it all the way to North Cape and down through Finland to Helsinki for a side trip to St. Petersburg. Finally, we ferried back to Stockholm... a month-long odyssey I’ll always remember.

1984

award

At the PhotoKina multi-image festival in Cologne, Germany, the 30-projector show "Hawaii...Xanadu" was a big winner. But there's a story: The festivals projection-grid manager, in a patrician gesture, assigned all key jobs to students. When the show ran, instead of animated sequences people saw random chaos... things like a jellyfish on a girl's face. But the crowd went wild anyway and the show won. Taught me a lesson.

Hawaii - Xanadu (Movie digitally reassembled from a VHS tap of original slideshow)

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player

Alternative Video: WebM format

The original slidewhow using 30-projectors on a single screen - presents 2,400 animated slides in about 3 minutes, accompanied by the popular song “Xanadu,” sung by Olivia Newton-John. I thought, at very least I will hold the land speed record for slides.

1985

Award

I received the Mediatech Programming Award twice, the first time an Ikea show, “Building It Is Half The Fun.” The actors played in slow motion while we shot at 4 frames per second using Nikons with motor drives and 250-exposure backs. The animations were played back using 15 projectors aimed at a single screen. People were surprised slides could “move” and high-speed shows became my signature style for many years.

1985

life

Life at AVC. Marius Wherli registering art cells.

1985

cookies

Life at AVC. Apparently the cookies are good... watch what happens to the kitchen in 2 years.

1985

mesney

Life at AVC. On my way to return another rental....

1985

sweden

Life at AVC. Bo Stroman (right) and Lasse Helquist were in AVC's power circle and they liked the international profile I was helping the company create. On my advice they hired Judy Rowland (left) as a PR gal and publicity-story writer. Christine Carlsson later married Bo.

1985

avc

Life at AVC. No trip to Sweden is complete without a boat ride around Stockholm... this time with Judy Rowland (right), Christine Carlsson (center), and Sandra Sande.

1985

elizabeth

Elisabeth Ivarsson was the AV-products sales rep for Kodak in Sweden so we saw each other with regularity at AVC. At a multi-image festival in London, we took things a bit farther and in rather short order shared quarters on Hornsgatan. When we won an AVL sales contest, and went on a Carnival Cruise Lines trip to the Caribbean, it was the highlight of our relationship. But two’s company and three are a crowd... and when she didn’t get along with John Emms very well I had to make tough choices.

1985

anna

Anna's favorite friend was "Poussan" a mouse-doll I found in the Zurich airport. One day I found another, slightly smaller... and then another... and soon there was the Poussan Family. But the original remained her favorite.

1986

hornsgaten

When AVC went bankrupt it left me high and dry... I didn’t even have enough money to go home -- and where was home, anyway? The year before, Sandra had left me after I committed a major indiscretion with a gal at work. Broke (again) and alone, I set up shop across the street from AVC at Hornsgatan 100, Saab crossed over with me and became my mainstay client until 1992, when I returned to the States. (See PDF of 1986 article re: Mesney and AVC )

1986

hornsgaten

What was once the living room (inset) became the programming suite at the Hornsgatan studio.

1986

indian

Line-up-slide artwork for Incredible Imagers, Stockholm. John Emms fashioned it after an old television test target.

1986

john emms

John Emms reflects on life... or is it the other way around?

1986

Juki Nakamura

Together, Juki Nakamura and I would both check all the car-mounted cameras to make sure they were fully operational. For a while I collected the test frames, of which this is one.

1986

mesney

My version of "men in black" I'm on a break during a Saab shoot in southern Sweden. I always dress the part when shooting; it's amazing how people respond to "uniforms." It's an extension of body language… in many dialects.

1988

saab film crew

Film crew for the Saab 9000 CD wrapping it up after a week-long shoot in Sweden. After Lars Einar retired, Thomas Lagerqvist took over. He and his doon-to-be-wife, Lena, became good friends. Filip Jarnehag and Juki Nakamura were also on the team (right side) as they had been at AVC. The acquisition of Saab by General Motors spelled change and it was the last time this team worked together.

1986

lena = thomas

Thomas Lagerqvist superceded Lars Einar as the Saab client. When he married Lena, a great time was had by all, as is clear in these shots. Well, perhaps the smallest strain was developing between Elisabeth Ivarsson and John Emms.

1986

saab

Saab’s 9000 CD was launched at the Acropolis in Nice, France with an 80-projector “Image Wall” comprised of 40 rear-projection screens with 2 slide projectors each. By the mid-80’s I had a strong reputation for large-scale shows involving a lot of projectors.

1986

saab

Saab’s 9000 CD was launched on the huge stage at the Acropolis in Nice, France. Dominating the set was an 80-projector “Image Wall. A large troupe of dancers and performers enacted an hour-long Operetta about luxury travel through the ages. .” D&D, from Brussels, staged it.

1987

saab nice

The Saab 9000CD-launch show was a mega event held at the Acropolis in Nice, France. 2000 VIPs and dignitaries attended. They were entertained by a 1-hour musical Operetta put together by Hans Hiort. Stockholm's Philharmonic Orchestra performed Hiort's score, together with a massive chorus and troupe of 50 dancers. The musical traced the history of luxury personal transport through the ages, positioning the new Saab as a luxury car.

1988

family

The launch show for the Saab 9000 CD, at the Acropolis in Nice, France, was the biggest show I had done to date. I celebrated by bringing my mother and father over from New York to see it, together with Elisabeth and Anna. Don Southerland, a freelance NY journalist I had hired as the studio’s PR guy, was also there. It was the last time that I saw my father as he passed away the next year while I was in Sweden.

1987

anna's room

Hornsgatan studio tour: Anna's room in two incarnations. Elisabeth's dad, Helge Ivarsson did the remodel. He could build anything.

1987

room

Hornsgatan studio tour: Known as the Camera Room, it housed our Maron camera.

1987

tour

Hornsgatan studio tour: How many darkrooms do you know with a crystal chandelier?

1987

office

Hornsgatan studio tour: My office adjoined Elisabeth's.

1987

edit room

Hornsgatan studio tour: Edit room adjacent to slide archives.

1987

kitchen

Stockholm in the early 80’s was gastronomically challenged. Being well traveled, my tastes went considerably beyond Swedish meatballs and herring. To preserve my culinary sanity and explore Epicurean fantasies I taught myself how to cook and renovated the kitchen with an extreme IKEA makeover. Not one for moderation, I soon became so enmeshed in the kitchen that when I returned to the States I opened a restaurant of my own, called Fork Inn the Road.

1987

living room

Hornsgatan studio tour: The inner sanctum... our living room was off bounds for business.

1987

kitchen

Hornsgatan studio tour. The kitchen in Elisabeth's apartment before it was renovated by her father, Helge Ivarsson.

1987

room

Hornsgatan studio tour: The kitchen in Elisabeth's apartment after Helge Ivarsson's renovation.

1987

offices

Hornsgatan studio tour: Elisabeth in her executive office suite.

1987

bedroom

Hornsgatan studio tour: Master bedroom.

1987

programming room

On the left, the original set-up at Hornsgatan 100 in Stockholm, and on the right, the same room 6 months and 15 projectors later. Eventually, 30 projectors would crowd into the same space. There would have been more if there were enough electricity. The image library, then some 500,000 slides, can be seen in the background.

1987

archives

Hornsgatan studio tour. Slide archive. At its peak it was double this size.

1987

parents

Sandra remained a good friend with my parents after we separated (and she moved to New York). When I visited my parents on the occasion of the New York International Film Festival, Sandra joined us for lunch at the Novotel on 52nd Street.

1987

mesney

Chuck Kappenman was always trying to get me to use his TVL system, but I never did. Video has always been somehow foreign to me... I don't think in video terms, perhaps. Instead I see more icon-ish images. I want to lead the mind, not direct it. I'm a Maxwell Parish fan and for me there is nothing like an extremely large, very high quality (i.e., very high resolution) picture.

1988

cruise

The multi-image industry's death knell had been sounded. It was all hands on deck... SOS... the ship was going down from its own weight and complexity. Soon an economic "correction" (contraction) and the rise of video and PowerPoint would finish it off. Marketing became key to survival, so AVL held a sales contest. I was a dealer and for the Saab show I sold myself enough gear to win a place on the Carnival Cruise to Jamaica.

1988

cruise

AVL cruise to Jamaica: Ray Sozzi was captain of the good ship AVL and cruise host. Although a straight shooter and "good guy," when it came to entertaining Ray couldn't keep up with the reputation for schmoozing and boozing that had been created by his predecessors... now, They partied.

1988

cruise

AVL cruise to Jamaica: Rolf Wherli and his wife. Three years earlier I had worked with their son, Marius Wherli, at AVC (and he appears in some of these pages). Their company, Wherli AudioVisual was based in Switzerland.

1988

cruise

AVL cruise to Jamaica: Kathy Whitson was an AVL sales coordinator and was a latecomer to the original group. At this point she was one of the only originals left.

1988

Liz & Anna

AVL cruise to Jamaica: Elisabeth and Anna came along and it was the calm before the storm.

1988

cruise

AVL cruise to Jamaica: Chris & Jerry Hurd from PMP Marketing, Rocky Mountain states manufacturers rep for AVL. They are two of my favorite people. When Sandra and I bought Ron Fundingslands bike, we headed for Vancouver but stopped at the Hurd's in Park City Utah to pay a visit. They told us to look up Charlie Watts and Bruce Silverstein in Seattle. We did and ended up doing a Microsoft show for them and a Boeing show for Bob Peterson.

1988

art

AVL cruise to Jamaica: Arch Cheney from Salt Lake City. You can see why he is readying his camera. A lady named Paula Aoki used to work with him and I wish she would call.

1988

new york

Elisabeth and Anna at the Empire State Building and "on the town" in New York. We were on our way back to Stockholm from the AVL cruise to Jamaica.

1988

new york

Incredible Imagers did quite well at the Swedish Bildspels (Slide Show) Festival and the awards banquet was occasion for some world-class partying. In the lower photo are (left to right) Kurt Hjelte, Suzanne Lindstrom & John Emms. Upper pix have John Emms, Peter Holmberg, and Rick Pedolsky.

1988

kurt

At the awards banquet for the Swedish Bildspels (Slide Show) Festival, Kurt Helte, founder and Managing Director of AVC, AB -- Audio Visual Centrum -- in Stockholm (left) clowning with artist Rune Soderqvist. Kurt is wearing Incredible's "No Charge for Dust!" button as an eye patch. Above, Kurt is seen with Maria Lindstrom, his personal assistant.

1988

awards

By 1988 our awards collection was well on its way to the current 150-plus mark. This grouping is of winnings from the European "Images" Festival held in London.

1988

awards

At the New York International Film Festival we were awarded two golds, a silver and Best of Show. In fact, we won Best of Show three years in a row from 1986 and 1989.

1988

awards

Receiving a prize at the New York International Film Festival. At right is Don Sutherland whom I had hired as a PR guy and publicity-story writer for Incredible Imagers.

1988

awards

Receiving "Best of Show" at New York International Film Festival. Incredible Imagers won that distinction three years in a row. At right my proud Mom.

1988

awards

Toasting ourselves at New York International Film Festival. Mom tries to grab a shot of Bjorn Ericstam, himself a winner, and my father (obscured from view). Upper left shows Don Sutherland (left) and Bjorn (right). Lower right is of Bjorn and I with Mom.

1988

show

D&D had built and installed the giant 40-panel, rigid-plastic RP screen we used for the Saab launch show in Nice, France, and through that job I got to know Eric Dillens. Then D&D returned the favor and asked us to do content for a Gemeentekrediet trade fair stand in Brussels. Together with Burson-Marsteller Brussels, I thought D&D could feed us the business we would need for the Brussels headquarters of Incredible Imagers.

1988

dhl

Jan Robbrechts, at Burson Marsteller, hired us to launch DHL’s Brussels Hub. Mediatech’s Bob Jackson and Angela Green spearheaded the building of a rooftop VIP lounge for our 30-projector show. The screens slid apart to reveal the huge hub operation all dressed up with a spectacular laser-light show.

1988

dhl

Mediatech built a theater on top of DHL's existing hangar office wing. It housed a VIP lounge and theater for 200 people to see a 30-projector show with six screens that slid apart to reveal a panoramic vista view of the giant hub operation in the hangar beyond, lit with lasers and stage lights. Workers in ultraviolet-light-sensitive costumes glowed, as did the packages on the conveyors. Audiences cycled every two hours. All this was the brainchild of Arthur Havers, then Marketing Director for DHL in Europe.

1988

photo library.

18 countries in three weeks ...the airplane was my hotel. The show schedule was so tight that it justified taking the Concorde (...yes!). In addition to the show, I was shooting for what would become one of DHL's most important resources... The DHL International Photo Library. To make it, 350 of the best shots were duplicated into 50 sets and distributed to key offices and agencies globally. It created a universally consistent (and approved) visual identity worldwide. It was the brainchild of Arthur Havers and Jan Robberechts.

1988

calendar

On the around-the-world DHL mission I shot their facilities, people and activities in 18 different countries. The photos were originally used in the 30-projector multi-image show used to launch their Brussels hub. Then we produced a number of off-shoot promotions, one of which was the 1990 company calendar.

1989

slides

The best 350 photos from the global shoot were released as the DHL International Photo Library. The library was sent to every important agency and office around the world in order to create a unified, pre-approved collection of images that defined the company and provided a corporate portrait shown "in the right light".

1989

DHL posters

John Emms and I were good collaborators as these two concept posters demonstrate. This was probably the highest point in our professional association.

1988

emms

The graphic on the left was made by John Emms to promote the Stockholm studio, called Epic Productions. However, the Swedish patent office disallowed the name Epic on the grounds that it infringed on Epic Records. I decided to fall back on the name “Incredible” which had served so well in New York. It is a decision I regret because of its pretentious qualities. However, that afforded John the opportunity to make a new graphic, seen on the right.

1988

saab logo

John Emms mastery of the Maron Carrel rostrum camera is evidenced by these two logos. His expertise went for beyond the camera itself, into darkroom procedures and photo theory. Keep in mind that these were made without the benefit of PhotoShop. Artwork was a collection of 10-field cells made by hand. The Maron had a control computer with 128k RAM. Emms was expert at plotting complex X-Y-Z camera moves.

1988

emms

Two more masterpieces by John Emms made on the Maron Carel camera. Although these logos are deceptively simple looking, they are actually extremely complex in terms of artwork. For example, every repeat of the logo in the Incredible spiral has it's own positive and negative cell... all done at "10-field" size ("letter" sized). John Emms was not only a master technician but also a glutton for (self) punishment.

1988

gaget bag

Gadget bag tour: Here's the kit I dragged around to do my job back then… 800 pounds of gack….

1988

case 1

Gadget bag tour: Case #1... camera bodies and meters.

1988

cyclopan

Gadget bag tour: Cyclopan 360-degree camera.

1988

filters

Gadget bag tour: Filters for 52mm and 72mm screw-in mounts.

1988

filters

Gadget bag tour: Tiffen glass cine filters in 4.5 and 10-inch sizes... mostly grads.

1988

filters

Gadget bag tour: Cokin filters, a complete set. Some neat effects plus they were "disposable."

1988

filters

Gadget bag tour: More Cokin filters, and a complete set of Kodak gels for "cut outs."

1988

holders

Gadget bag tour: Custom filter holders made by Bertil Aspgrans at Fotoaffaren in Stockholm.

1988

camera steady

Gadget bag tour: Gyroscope camera-steady.

1988

hasselblad

Gadget bag tour: Hasselblad camera system.

1988

mounts tripods

Gadget bag tour: Camera mounts and small tripods.

1988

lights

Gadget bag tour: Reflectors and ring lights.

1988

clamps

Gadget bag tour: Clamps and gaffing stuff.

1988

car mount

Gadget bag tour: Suction-cup car mount for camera(s).

1988

motor drives

Gadget bag tour: Nikons with 250-exposure long-roll backs and high speed motor drives.

1988

cassettes

Gadget bag tour: Nikons with 250-exposure long-roll cassettes.

1988

lenses

Gadget bag tour: Nikon "short" lenses from 13mm to 105mm.

1988

lens

Gadget bag tour: Nikon 600mm telephoto with doubler (to 1200mm).

1988

lens

Gadget bag tour: Nikon medium-length lenses through 400mm.

1988

specialty

Gadget bag tour: Nikon specialty lenses: fisheye, 90-degree "periscope," mirror lenses, etc.

1988

remotes

Gadget bag tour: Nikon radio remotes and specialty strobes.

 

1988

etc

Gadget bag tour: Tool kit.

1988

kathy & lou

My sister Kathryn Mesney-Hetler and her late husband, Lou Hetler, in a photo taken on a Christmas visit to their home on Vashon Island, Washington. It was as a result of that visit that I ended up building a studio on Vashon and going to live there after returning from Europe. I asked her to keep her eye open for a suitable house… she called three months later and it was a done deal.

1988

elizabeths parents

Elisabeth's parents, Mai-Britt and Helge Ivarsson, have a home in Kungshamn, Sweden, just north of Goteborg (Gothenburg). Many enjoyable hours were spent exploring coastline rocks smoothed by glaciers, and primitive drawings inscribed into them.

1988

family

Elisabeth's dad, Helge Ivarsson, worked with Kodak as a photography instructor, among other things. That gave us a basis of understanding. However, my excesses often offended his sensibilities. Helge is very much the model of Swedish character.

1988

family

A midsummer night's dream... or, dinner at least. It was Midsummer... the summer solstice, the most important holiday in the land of ice and snow. A night when it is rumored that virgins snack out with offerings for their chosen Vikings... ah, that's the dream part.

1988

midsummer

What is Midsummer without a dance around the May Pole... wait a minute, it's June. Mai-Britt (left) joins Elisabeth (center) and Anna for a spin around the yard.

1988

anna

Life was very much a merry-go-round for Anna, as she split her time between her father and Elisabeth, whose separation hadn't been easy. I wasn't cut out to be a father, we were more like friends, and that was fun.

1988

meatballs

Lasse Haldenberg played the Swedish Chef character in the show "Swedish Meatballs." His character was loosely based on the Muppets character. The storyline of the show is that CNN's Burt Wolf has come to Sweden to learn how to cook the famous meatballs. As the Chef blunders, Wolf cuts away to stories about Swedish culture and lifestyle... the real intent of the show.

1988

meatballs

Swedish Meatballs was shot at Stockholm’s Grand Hotel. We'd come in at midnight and shoot 'till early morning. It got pretty silly at times, especially when we started setting off the smoke bombs. Filip Jarnehag was my indispensable helper. Yuki Nakamura is in the BG at right with a slightly worried hotel manager. Juki has a good eye. Filip makes things happen.

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player

Alternative Video| WebM format

1989 Swedish Meatball Slidehow (digitally reassembled from a VHS tape)

1989

circle

One of my pet projects was the building of a circular theater in which to show 360-degree presentations. Although we never built the theater, we did a semi-circular, environmental show for Saab's International Motor Show stand for the 9000 CS model.

1989

doug

A self-made star for “Got To Be SAV,” a widely distributed 4-projector demo show made in celebration of the 1,000,000th Kodak SAV projector. In retrospect, the ego is astounding.

1989

show

Always one to have fun at the expense of AV, the importance of slides was satirized in a demo show for Kodak. “Got To Be... SAV” was the name of the show and it was made to celebrate the 1,000,000th SAV slide projector. The illustrations were hand made darkroom assemblies as this was well before PhotoShop. Fifty copies of this 4-projector show played around the world at various Kodak functions and exhibitions.

1989

doug

In the Stockholm studio putting together “Got To Be... SAV” for Kodak. No, I didn't normally wear ties.

1989

mesney

Yours truly as poster boy for a Dataton ad which featured the big grid at our Stockholm studio.