Post Your Black and Whites Photos!!
- Thread starter Dave_W
- Start date
Clovishound
Senior Member
I was just up the road in Johnson City Tenn around that time. That's 1977, not 1937. I was just getting started with a second hand Praktica and a small darkroom in the spare room. I wasn't turning out anything of this quality at the time.
From the summer of 1975 at North Western Station in Chicago. Same Nikkormat FTn, Plus-X film and basement darkroom processing. I didn't have a tripod for a time exposure, so braced the camera against a post, chose an aperture near f/16 and carefully squeezed off a few shots at 1/30 and maybe 1/15. Near 50 years later, much has changed here.
Blue439
New member
Venerable old stones in Provence (2022)
In the border region between France and Italy, near the towns of Menton and Ventimiglia, the Alps come right up to the Mediterranean coastline and fall very sharply into the sea, with few very narrow and enclosed valleys. It can take quite a long time to drive between villages that can almost see each other and would be quite close if one were traveling as the bird flies.
The small Romanesque church known as the Madonna del Poggio (“Madonna of the Well”) was built around 1050. It is a private property and even my most knowledgeable contacts in the area could not dig up or locate a current owner (or anyone with a key!), in the wake of several deaths within a family now mostly established, it seems, in Corsica. Obviously, the owners do not care much for the wonderful piece of History they own. In cases like that, I would encourage a legal procedure enabling the State or local authorities to seize the property and altogether dispossess the undeserving owners!
Anyway, it was first a parochial church, then it was donated by the local lord to the Benedictine abbey of Lérins and became one of its many priories, as it appears on a list of the abbey’s possessions drawn up in 1092.
Its three apses are decorated with those bandes lombardes I already mention, and which identify for sure a church dating from the premier art roman (First Romanesque Art), i.e., around Year 1000–50.
Nikon Z7 II, Micro-Nikkor 45mm, ƒ/2.8 D PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head.
In the border region between France and Italy, near the towns of Menton and Ventimiglia, the Alps come right up to the Mediterranean coastline and fall very sharply into the sea, with few very narrow and enclosed valleys. It can take quite a long time to drive between villages that can almost see each other and would be quite close if one were traveling as the bird flies.
The small Romanesque church known as the Madonna del Poggio (“Madonna of the Well”) was built around 1050. It is a private property and even my most knowledgeable contacts in the area could not dig up or locate a current owner (or anyone with a key!), in the wake of several deaths within a family now mostly established, it seems, in Corsica. Obviously, the owners do not care much for the wonderful piece of History they own. In cases like that, I would encourage a legal procedure enabling the State or local authorities to seize the property and altogether dispossess the undeserving owners!
Anyway, it was first a parochial church, then it was donated by the local lord to the Benedictine abbey of Lérins and became one of its many priories, as it appears on a list of the abbey’s possessions drawn up in 1092.
Its three apses are decorated with those bandes lombardes I already mention, and which identify for sure a church dating from the premier art roman (First Romanesque Art), i.e., around Year 1000–50.
Nikon Z7 II, Micro-Nikkor 45mm, ƒ/2.8 D PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head.
Blue439
New member
Many thanks for your appreciation, guys (and gals)!
The Benedictine abbey of Fleury (2022)
Now, are you ready to take another plunge into early Middle Ages history? Here we go...
The small French town of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, not far from the city of Orléans, is the location of the Benedictine abbey of Fleury. There are at least two reasons why this abbey is famous worldwide among Mediævalists and beyond: an architectural reason, and a historical one.
The architectural reason is the presence of the enormous and splendid tower-porch built under Abbot Gauzlin, whose abbacy ran from 1004 to 1030. It is a wonder of Romanesque architecture and art.
The historical reason, which makes this abbey even more unique, is that it houses the bones of saint Benoît, Saint Benedict in English, the founder and father of all monasticism in the Western World. Benoît, born Benedetto around 480 in Umbria (modern-day Italy), founded the Monte Cassino monastery in 529 and died there in 547. His Rule remains to this day the governing law of all Benedictine monasteries worldwide —and that of several other religious orders inspired y it, such as the Cistercians, who were a Year 1000 offshoot of the Benedictines.
Around 580, the monastery on Monte Cassino (roughly between Rome and Naples) was destroyed by a Lombard raid. The place was left deserted and utterly unoccupied for more than a century. In the late 600s, the abbot of Fleury, who had heard about the desertion and the fact that neither the remains of Saint Benedict, nor those of Saint Scholastica, his sister who had been buried with him, were properly honored, sent out a search-and-rescue party of monks led by Aygulf. They reached Cassino, discovered the resting place of the saints among the ruins of the abandoned monastery, and brought them back to France in 703. The bones of saint Benoît remain to this day in Fleury, while those of Scholastica went to the cathedral in Le Mans.
Some Italians, of course, disagree and claim that the bones of the saint never left Cassino. You will even find some modern-day internet websites that claim it! Having researched the question quite extensively, and read in particular a comprehensive (150 pages!) memoir published in 1882 by R.P. Dom François Chamard, osb, a brother of the abbey of Ligugé, my opinion is that the bones of saint Benoît were indeed transported to France (19th-century forensic examination of the bones goes in the same direction), even though a few of them may have inadvertently been overlooked and left in the tomb at Cassino because they were not properly identified as human bones in 703. Some of them were also given back to the Monte Cassino monks who had come to Fleury around 750 to ask for them once the decision had been made to rebuild the monastery there. This approach is also proof that the Italian monks themselves, very shortly after the fact, believed the bones of Benoît had indeed been carried away to France, since they went there to ask for them.
The abbey of Fleury is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The apse of the abbey church is grandiose and magnificent. However, it is surrounded by other buildings and truly cannot be admired except from way back, shooting across a schoolyard and above the low roofs of the covered playground. The various architectural parts are, from bottom (front) to top (back): the small radiating chapels; the ambulatory; and the apse proper.
Nikon Z7 II, Micro-Nikkor 85mm, ƒ/2.8D PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head.
The Benedictine abbey of Fleury (2022)
Now, are you ready to take another plunge into early Middle Ages history? Here we go...
The small French town of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, not far from the city of Orléans, is the location of the Benedictine abbey of Fleury. There are at least two reasons why this abbey is famous worldwide among Mediævalists and beyond: an architectural reason, and a historical one.
The architectural reason is the presence of the enormous and splendid tower-porch built under Abbot Gauzlin, whose abbacy ran from 1004 to 1030. It is a wonder of Romanesque architecture and art.
The historical reason, which makes this abbey even more unique, is that it houses the bones of saint Benoît, Saint Benedict in English, the founder and father of all monasticism in the Western World. Benoît, born Benedetto around 480 in Umbria (modern-day Italy), founded the Monte Cassino monastery in 529 and died there in 547. His Rule remains to this day the governing law of all Benedictine monasteries worldwide —and that of several other religious orders inspired y it, such as the Cistercians, who were a Year 1000 offshoot of the Benedictines.
Around 580, the monastery on Monte Cassino (roughly between Rome and Naples) was destroyed by a Lombard raid. The place was left deserted and utterly unoccupied for more than a century. In the late 600s, the abbot of Fleury, who had heard about the desertion and the fact that neither the remains of Saint Benedict, nor those of Saint Scholastica, his sister who had been buried with him, were properly honored, sent out a search-and-rescue party of monks led by Aygulf. They reached Cassino, discovered the resting place of the saints among the ruins of the abandoned monastery, and brought them back to France in 703. The bones of saint Benoît remain to this day in Fleury, while those of Scholastica went to the cathedral in Le Mans.
Some Italians, of course, disagree and claim that the bones of the saint never left Cassino. You will even find some modern-day internet websites that claim it! Having researched the question quite extensively, and read in particular a comprehensive (150 pages!) memoir published in 1882 by R.P. Dom François Chamard, osb, a brother of the abbey of Ligugé, my opinion is that the bones of saint Benoît were indeed transported to France (19th-century forensic examination of the bones goes in the same direction), even though a few of them may have inadvertently been overlooked and left in the tomb at Cassino because they were not properly identified as human bones in 703. Some of them were also given back to the Monte Cassino monks who had come to Fleury around 750 to ask for them once the decision had been made to rebuild the monastery there. This approach is also proof that the Italian monks themselves, very shortly after the fact, believed the bones of Benoît had indeed been carried away to France, since they went there to ask for them.
The abbey of Fleury is on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
The apse of the abbey church is grandiose and magnificent. However, it is surrounded by other buildings and truly cannot be admired except from way back, shooting across a schoolyard and above the low roofs of the covered playground. The various architectural parts are, from bottom (front) to top (back): the small radiating chapels; the ambulatory; and the apse proper.
Nikon Z7 II, Micro-Nikkor 85mm, ƒ/2.8D PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head.
Clovishound
Senior Member
Blue439
New member
Interesting, what is it?
It doesn't seem to be really black-and-white, I think I see some color...
blackstar
Senior Member
It is the top of the head of a Buda sculpture. You are right that it is a JPG right out of my Z6ii. It looked like having the original grey tone, so I didn't care to convert it to B&W. The yellowish spots probably came from some fungi or else. My laziness is my fault.
Blue439
New member
The crypt of Saint Benedict
I posted above a photo of the back of the abbey church of Fleury. This is the crypt that lies underneath it, where the bones of Saint Benedict are kept.
Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light.
I posted above a photo of the back of the abbey church of Fleury. This is the crypt that lies underneath it, where the bones of Saint Benedict are kept.
Nikon Z7 II, Nikkor 19mm, ƒ/4 PC-E tilt-shift lens, manual focus, FTZ II adapter. Gitzo tripod, Benro geared head. Natural light.
Clovishound
Senior Member
Finally got this one edited the way I wanted.
From the mid-1970s at Barrington, Illinois (USA) is an interlocking tower (known as a signal box across the pond) and its levers inside. Both are gone today. These were known as "armstrong" machines because they required strong arms to move the levers which mechanically moved long lengths of steel rod to set switches and signals.
Thought I had seen that shot before, was this one scanned differently it is much better than the image posted in 2013.
https://nikonites.com/forum/threads/post-your-black-and-whites-photos.10060/post-139268
I've become a bit better using my photo software (Corel PaintShop Pro X9). It's an old package, but I'm old too and would probably struggle learning something newer.
With welded rail now found nearly everywhere, rail joints like these are less common and placed only where needed. Note how the bolt and nut placement is alternated on the splice bars. This is done for safety. If there were to be a derailment and a wheel flange dropped off the rail, no matter which side of the rail it might fall, the flange will not shear off all of the bolts. [D5100]
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