There was recently a thread about flash powders, I found it very interesting and then it got to the end of the thread and found that a few people were afraid of the technique and decided that it should be closed.
This post is not meant to agitate the moderators, but it is meant to remind people about who we are and what we do.
Every day we as film photographers go into the darkroom and safely handle very VERY dangerous chemicals, chemicals that can cause all sorts of health risks including death, we do this day in and day out to create beautiful and unique imagery. Many of these chemicals (like Rodinal and Pyro developers) are ORM-D (is that acronym right?) classified for shipping.
And yet no one seems to complain about that, however, for some reason flash powder is scary to everyone?
I want to kind of remind people that this is a forum that is about sharing information, information that is being lost and is slowly dying out because all the people that have the information are also dying out, and if we don't pass on this valuable information, the details will be lost forever.
When I was about 11, my father, who is a chemist, taught me how to from scratch using household chemicals, create a substance that would get hot enough to ignite magnesium powder, and the only thing you needed to start the reaction was a single drop of water.
Did we have fun? Yes. Was it dangerous? Yes. Did I learn something valuable? Yes. Did we put a hole in the cement of the backyard patio? Yes.... But did we have fun? And did we learn something? Yes yes yes.
Did I end up making bombs and blowing stuff up? No of course not, because I was also taught to be safe and to use the knowledge properly.
There are a million places on the Internet where someone could find info in order to use it to make something dangerous for an evil purpose, (I mean everyone knows about the "anarchists cookbook" that's been around since the mid 90's) and I highly doubt that simply sharing information about flash powder could somehow be more dangerous to anyone than half of the other stuff on the Internet, and I think limiting the sharing of information especially of historic value, is a dangerous path, and one that history has shown can lead to very very bad ends... It's a slippery slope, this censorship of information...
Anyway, I will end this post by saying ...
Any of the following information that may be contained within this thread posting and subsequent posts, are for informational purposes, and to aid in the techniques of creating photographic imagery using traditional methods, and should only be used for that purpose and that purpose alone, you should also acknowledge that by reading such information you will not hold liable the forum or any members thereof participating or not participating if you should happen to cause injury to yourself or others in the use of such information.
By reading further you agree to the above.
That should cover the forum for any liability concerns...
Anyway, so if the moderators would permit me to continue? Please?
Would anyone share some imagery they created using flash powders? Any technique and lessons learned personally? And only share formulas if you feel comparable doing so, and with a rider like the above so the mods can stay happy.
I would really be interested in seeing some modern imagery using flash powder as the light source.
Thanks.
~Stone
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Originally Posted by StoneNYC
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