Sloss Furnaces - Birmingham, AL

[Corran]

Saturday, we had a LF meetup at Sloss Furnaces. It was my first time there, but I know many LF shooters have been there as evidenced by a search on the forum.

However most of the images are gone or buried in the depths of various threads. So I thought I'd start a dedicated image thread for Sloss!

My first image hot off the press from yesterday - taken with my Linhof Master Technika, Schneider 58mm XL, on T-Max 100 and dev'd in Pyrocat 1:1:100. I think it was a 2-minute exposure at f/22:

http://www.esearing.com/Bryan/AV/photosharing/slossfurnace-4135ss.jpg

[Corran]

Aaaaaand one more for the night. The light coming in the high windows was gorgeous.

Linhof MT / 90mm XL:

http://www.esearing.com/Bryan/AV/photosharing/slossfurnace-4136ss.jpg

[darr]

Lovely images Bryan. Looking forward to seeing more!

[Corran]

Thanks darr! Will post some more tomorrow.

[Corran]

http://www.esearing.com/Bryan/AV/photosharing/slossfurnace-4142-c2ss.jpg

[CreationBear]

Glad you made it over--I used to live less than a mile from Sloss when we taught at UAB, but it really hadn't been fully rehabilitated at that point. As the old woman says in an Andrew Lytle story, I had a mule older than Birmingham, but there's a historical palimpsest there that's sadly lacking from, say, the nine circles of Hell that is the ATL.:)

[Corran]

the nine circles of Hell that is the ATL.:)

LOL yes! It was about as hot as hell though Saturday. Of course now we have a cold front coming through and it's a balmy 75 here today.

It was a cool place, and my first time as you know, so most of my photos are just "okay" I think. I usually have to go back a time or two before I really make great images at a place. I hope some of the other members who went will post some of their images here soon - they had been before.

I am feeling pretty good about the graphic composition above though, especially the prominent triangles.

[jon.oman]

Nice image Corran!

Question: This site is open to the public? Or, do you need to get permission?

[Corran]

Thanks Jon!

Sloss is a National Historic Site, and entry is "free" - a donation is requested/suggested. There are some guidelines on photography, but we weren't asked about any of that. It's all about commercial photography. No mention of "art."

[Gary Beasley]

Wife and I joined the crew there, or actually they joined us as we were there an hour before. We lasted about 2 1/2 hours before we had to bail due to heat stress. I was able to shoot a dozen frames with my Ebony, got the ten Tmax 400 sheets souped this morning. The HIE can wait till I get a few more frames off. These uploads lost a lot of sharpness from the original scans.

[Corran]

Nice Gary. I didn't see some of those machines outside. I really liked the indoor area (your third pic, is the same machine as my second image above).

Definitely need to go again, perhaps with a bigger camera...

Still need to develop some color I shot.

Here's the #1 furnace. The light and shadow was nice briefly, about 15 minutes later it was gone. This time with a 150mm APO Symmar:

http://www.esearing.com/Bryan/AV/photosharing/slossfurnace-4138ss.jpg

[Gary Beasley]

Lets plan it for a few degrees cooler temperature! Overcast day would be ideal to help with the deep shadows.

[Luis-F-S]

Corran, are you using X-Ray film? Just wondering because the images look pretty contrasty. I'll post some shots I took there a couple of years back as soon as I scan the carbon prints. L

[Gary Beasley]

Very contrasty lighting there.

[Corran]

Corran, are you using X-Ray film?

T-Max 100, Pyrocat

Indoor images with light coming in from high sun were that contrasty. I embraced it and didn't try to wrench around the scale this time. I've shot indoors in similar condition and grossly overexposed + pull development to get softer contrasts but chose not to this time - I would've needed long exposures that would be susceptible to shake, as some of the area had metal sheeting on the ground that moved when walking on it and I was dodging other visitors. 15-minute exposures would've run afoul of other folks bouncing my tripod (happened once anyway with a 4-minute exposure).

Outdoor shots I tried to emphasize a contre-jour look.

I also busted out some old Provia Quickloads and shot a few in color, developed last night. Here's one, with a 90mm XL:

http://www.esearing.com/Bryan/AV/photosharing/slossfurnace-4161ss.jpg

[scheinfluger_77]

Is that an ancient, gigantic boiler? It makes me sweat just looking at it. Very cool by the way.

[Jac@stafford.net]

T-Max 100, Pyrocat

Indoor images with light coming in from high sun were that contrasty.

I would be tempted to try some big flash bulbs, no reflector off-side for fill.

[Corran]

Steve, that is the side of "Furnace #1." I don't really know how the whole system worked, so possibly also a boiler. They had those too. The whole area is just a mess of huge pipes and machinery in a haphazard-looking arrangement, at least from a lay perspective.

Jac - years ago, when I did a lot of documentary images inside an old cotton mill that was being torn down, I used to do 15-30 minute exposures and then pulled development 30-50%. Worked really well for "correcting" the increased contrast from reciprocity as well as toning down the highlights. Was using Rodinal back then. While I love shooting film and using the old cameras, I have no plans for ever playing with flash bulbs. I have used electronic flash for fill sometimes, and even flashlights.

[Martin Aislabie]

Is that an ancient, gigantic boiler? It makes me sweat just looking at it. Very cool by the way.

It looks like a Bessemer Converter to me ?

It turns pig iron (from a blast furnace) into steel by the injection of oxygen to burn off the carbon impurities.

Martin

[Gary Beasley]

History says that mill made pig iron, I saw no mention of it making steel. That is the furnace for smelting the iron. What Ive learned about the process is the big structures outside the pump room are full of stacked brick, heated for several hours by hot air from the furnaces, then the air is pumped through and heated and injected into the smelter to burn the coke and melt the iron as the ore is reduced to iron. Comes out the bottom and ran into molds in the sand around the smelter.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Nice Gary. I didn't see some of those machines outside. I really liked the indoor area (your third pic, is the same machine as my second image above).

Definitely need to go again, perhaps with a bigger camera...

Still need to develop some color I shot.

Here's the #1 furnace. The light and shadow was nice briefly, about 15 minutes later it was gone. This time with a 150mm APO Symmar:

http://www.garrisaudiovisual.com/photosharing/slossfurnace-4138ss.jpg

This shot is cool! It almost glows.

[Corran]

Thanks Steven.

[Luis-F-S]

Two shots I made at Sloss a couple of years ago, both with a 12" Dagor at f45. The first one was about an 8 min exposure, I had to keep closing the shutter when slow moving people in light clothes would appear.

195117

The second I would say was about a sec or slightly less exposure.

195118

I do not recall the site being overly contrasty, unless you wanted it to be. Shots of carbon prints taken with a crappy cell phone camera.

[Corran]

Luis, I think they've lifted the top off that machine in your first photo, or else there is another one with the top lifted off.

This photo is from the machine I am thinking of:

http://www.esearing.com/Bryan/AV/photosharing/slossfurnace-4139ssc.jpg

For most of the day, the sun was really beaming into the buildings from the windows and shadows were harsh. I would assume conditions vary heavily depending on weather and time of year.

[Kerosene Hat]

I knew Bryan and Gary would come back with some good images. I just got my film back & am scanning now. I have no idea what this is, but am glad that my visualization was aligned with the negative.

Wista 4x5, Dagor 180, Tri-X

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48732959438_66b3977053_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2hfna1A)
Old Machinery at Sloss Furnaces (https://flic.kr/p/2hfna1A) by Brandon Ward (https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_ward/)

[Corran]

Very nice Brandon! The DOF and light are just right.

[Kerosene Hat]

Thanks, Bryan. It seemed to me like this scene was lit by three strobes, but obviously natural light only. I like the flywheel pic but your image from the entrance at the end of the day is also very good.

[esearing]

I went on a rainy day and the interiors were so dark my spot meter could not read even the brightest spot. Had to meter a white spot on the floor and guess. Ended up with 4 minutes exposure and super thin negative.

https://i1.wp.com/www.searing.photography/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/sloss_2.psjpg_.jpg?w=1155&ssl=1

[esearing]

203132

[Christo.Stankulov]

Oh those are some crazy images! Very beautiful!