The Balzer Family Clockwork at LL Bean, Freeport, ME. (c) DE Wolf 2014.

This is a photograph that I took at LL Bean’s in Freeport, ME.  It is a clockwork and, yes, it is orange. 8<)  The Balzers are a family of tower clock restorers, and this commissioned work for LL Bean was manufactured in 1994.  It was dedicated Freeport-born Aaron L. Dennison (1812-1895), who was born, who is is recognized as the father of the watchmaking industry in the United States.   This is the first mechanical “tower” clock manufactured in the United States since 1963.  The clock mechanism drives a huge drum which has pegs that strike out the musical notes by engaging microswitches that activate the corresponding chime tube hammer and thus playing the note.  The tune can be changed by altering the pin locations. The tome of these chimes is magnificent. They raise the hairs on the back of your neck when they are played.

This is a striking and beautiful clock work.  Photographically the trick is two-fold.  First, you have to catch the glitter of the brass.  And second, you have to avoid the reflections in the glass that protects the mechanism from adoring but probing hands.  This glass problem is common and I have run into it often in malls and museums.  It makes catching the metal with flash difficult and often impossible. And, in  my experience using a polarizing filter helps but doesn’t solve the problem. I am pretty happy in the end with this picture.  There is a bit of annoying glass glare in the lower right that I could not totally eliminate.

Canon EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 70 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priorit-AE with -1 compensation, 1/100th sec at f/5.6.