>Could you post your pictures Ton?
Oof, I would first have to dig them up. I'll see
what I can do in the next few weeks.
>I can see the high voltage a flash generates causing concern.
>Especially with older flash units which had high trigger voltages
>exposed at the hot shoe.
>
>But isn't static discharge more of a concern than a 1.2v battery in an
>OM-1 ? Do you have to wear anti-static clothing? I know just sitting
>down in a cushioned chair, then gettting up, can cause enough static
>discharge in some chairs to interfere with electronic equipment.
Actually we all had to strip down to our
underwear and put on a special miner's outfit
including helmet and shoes. At 1200 meters below
the surface I was also introduced to a special
kind of nicotine consumption: sniff tobacco :-).
The reason I went there was a project by an
artist friend who needed some large pieces of
coal for an installation - a death room interior
of a miner who died from silicosis. The main
parts were an iron bed with a mattress made of
coal, a chair and a bedside table, also made of
coal. The director of the Fürst Leopold mine in
Dorsten (Germany) kindly offered the coal in
return for some works of art. He was so
enthousiastic that he turned the project into
some sort of "special event" for the younger
"kumpels", who had never had the experience of
getting the coal out by hand. By the late 80s,
when this took place, coal mining in Germany had
been made more or less "automatic", with sliding
scrapers removing the coal, which then fell down
on a moving transport band and into a lorry. I
had to promise not to publicise my pictures too
widely, as they were afraid of repercussions by
the German labour inspection, who didn't approve
of this kind of mining activity.
Ton
>-jeff
>
>On 10/11/07, Ton Maas <tonmaas@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> Sorry for intruding (I'm usually just lurking),
>> but I have had some experience going down into a
>> German coal mine some years ago. I even had to
>> remove the mercury cell of my then OM-1. Any
>> potential source of electric discharge had to be
>> eliminated. The mining company was able to
>> provide a completely sealed flash unit (probably
>> designed for underwater work), but as I had a few
>> rolls of the then new Kodak 3200 ASA B&W film, I
>> decided to shoot with just the helmet lights.
> > When I showed my prints to the mining execs
>> later, they couldn't believe their eyes.
>>
>> Ton
>>
>
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