V'ger bits & phtocomposition

V’ger bits & photocomposition

Exterior of V’ger made with several bent wires planted into a step motor that rotated the wires step-by-step for each exposure

An example of multi-planing where the same piece of art is shot over and over from a different start position each exposure, giving it movement and depth

Sketches and xeroxes of various tests to see what would work. This approach was right up my alley if you look at my 5th Trower cover on the “Destination Star Trek London” page

I have hundreds of original pieces of Cibachrome photocompositions...I could fill several websites with them. Each one is an original piece of art...NOT a print, having been exposed anywhere from 5 to 50 times, then developed to see what came out at the end...then adjustments were made and another composited shot was made. This was before computers could produce these kinds of graphics. Once the art was created on black-and-white film negatives, it could be reproduced unlimited times in unlimited colors and variations

Variations made with one master piece of black-and-white film art...just different exposures and added layers of airbrush tweaks

Another example of Cibachrome photocomposition that was very tricky and could not be created in any other way...would be a doddle today on a home computer

Have I got your attention?

This title was made up of many separate layers of high-contrast (black-and-clear) film segments, each segment exposed separately, building up the image one exposure at a time, with airbrush layers on top to give various parts of the art shadow and light. The metal effect was achieved by pulling sandpaper across acetate sheets (animation cels) that I would then airbrush at a severe angle to catch the “brushed” bits of plastic and make them show up. I went through a pack of 50 animation cels to finally get it right, and my studio was full of plastic shavings and dust for weeks! Being all monochrome, when shot against a iightbox using color film and color filters, the art could be any color the filters were. The very same art was used for the main title below, just with different combinations of layers and different color filters

I learned how do all this stuff by producing effects for V’ger and developed my

Cibachrome photocomposition process from there.

By landing the wonderful gig to airbrush the Starship Enterprise I was led towards a process I was ready to develop (yuk-yuk) because of my photography and film experience growing up, then working with printers, plus my growing airbrush skills courtesy of Peter, Ed, and Bob, that consequently opened many feature film doors

In life, it’s ALWAYS who you know...but when the door opens unexpectedly, you have to be able walk right in without falling on your face!

A perfect example is that if I hadn’t met Tony at the Windmill in 2008, the book and this site would not exist