Using a stereo film camera for the Villain Collaboration

September 24, 2018 Filippo Nenna

Omar, who has a line of Villain printed apparel, set up a photographer/model collaboration in Houston to promote his brand. I thought it would be a good opportunity to break out my stereo camera to get some gritty black and white 3D images. The camera takes two pictures at the same time, with the lenses as far apart as human eyes are. When the images are combined in the brain, the give the illusion of depth.

How to view the images

The simplest way to view the stereo pairs is to go cross-eyed until the two images appear to overlap and a third image seems to exist between them. If you are viewing this on a desktop/laptop, you want the images to be small or viewed with your screen further away from you. If you are on your phone, it should be only a few inches from your eyes for the effect to work. Many people cannot (or will not try to) use this technique. In this case, you can use an set of inexpensive 3d viewers which are easily found on eBay (I recommend these low cost viewers). If you get it to work, let me know about how you did it in the comments below!

stereo realist jumping portrait houston 2

Stereo realist jumping portrait houston 1

The people

We had a great group of people from around Houston who I’d previously only known through Instagram. Photographers: @filnenna @ashtxc @mptheephotographer. Models: @the_villain_lifestyle @kristen_wollenberg @miss_gemini_polefit @jono56_bjj @heyyyyyy_ms_hayes.

The camera

The Stereo Realist is as basic a camera as it gets. It is slow to operate because the shutter needs to be cocked independently of the winder, and the focusing has to be done through a rangefinder which is separate of the framing window. You can read an in-depth description of this camera in this overview Stereo Realist blog post. I left the digital camera at home for this session - I figured that because there were other photographers on this shoot, I could take the risk of shooting only film.

Texas DeLoreans - Rusty at The Game Preserve

September 10, 2018 Filippo Nenna

Rusty's DeLorean can often be found parked outside of his 80's arcade, The Game Preserve, in the Woodlands, just north of Houston, Texas. The car stirs up the same sort of nostalgia as the pinball machines inside - and every passer-by during this portrait session felt compelled to get closer and see the car for themselves. Touching a DeLorean, for most people, is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

And with every curious spectator, Rusty gladly talked to them like they were the first to show interest in his DMC 12. I'm finding that each owner knows that ownership is much more than possessing a vehicle, it is spreading joy and preserving a cultural icon.

The portraits were a mix of digital and medium format film shots on a Hasselblad 500cm. We got some shots as an established business owner, and also channeled Rusty's inner-teenager.

The arcade was founded by Rusty and some arcade machine-collecting friends as a way to share their passion/addiction with the public. The Game Preserve is $15 on entry with unlimited games for the night.

I returned to play in the arcade recently and I completely lost track of time - by the end of the night I'd played only a fraction of the games in the place, including Street Fighter, Qbert, Virtua Cop, some early wooden pinball machines and (don't tell my kids) Fix it Felix.

Villain Lifestyle - clothing for world domination

September 3, 2018 Filippo Nenna

Omar runs a fledgling company selling printed shirts and hoodies here in Houston with sales across the nation. His brand represents the underdog, the ambitious, those who create rather than erase.

We took a few hours to shoot some publicity material for Instagram and came away not only with marketing shots, but also some solid portraits.

Where can you find his shirts? Here on the villain lifestyle website,

and don't forget to check out his Instagram feed @the_villain_lifestyle.

This was a hybrid shoot using digital 35mm and film medium format cameras.

Texas Deloreans - Dennis

August 27, 2018 Filippo Nenna

As I meet more DeLorean owners around Houston, I find they all have a deep respect for the history of the car. From the literal trials and tribulations of John DeLorean, to its controversial funding and manufacture in Northern Ireland, and the car's placement in pop culture as it starred in the Back to the Future movies.

Dennis keeps Back to the Future props in the car for when he has it on display at movie showings and events like Houston's coffee and cars. There is a full-sized Flux Capacitor, a hover board and copies of Gray's Sports Almanac and Oh La La.

The car is meticulously maintained and, like a lot of the cars I have seen, has some modern upgrades such as LED door lights and steering wheel.

If you would like a portrait session with your DeLorean or other classic vehicle, shoot me an email at fil@filnenna.com.

Engagement pictures of Alex and Julia

July 23, 2018 Filippo Nenna

Here is a triptych of shots taken for Alex and Julia's engagement inspired by the seated man in David Hockney's "Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy", a double portrait he painted in 1971.

I was keen to incorporate the beautiful wooden window frames in their Houston bungalow, and so composed the double framing of Julia by the window, and Alex by Julia.

Lifestyle photography - Piano Yoga

June 25, 2018 Filippo Nenna

Here are a few fun shots we added to the end of a central Houston portrait session. We managed to combine Julia's yoga poses with the piano - the cat wandering into the center of the shot was a welcomed element for the composition!

I broke out the large format 4x5 camera to get a few film shots with a more classic look and the ability to angle the plane of focus.