The few

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Figure 1 - A London spotter watching for attacking planes during the Battle of Britain c1940. From the US NARA and in the public domain in the United States.

Figure 1 – A London spotter watching for attacking planes during the Battle of Britain c1940. From the US NARA and in the public domain in the United States.

It is difficult to realize that both 100 and 70 years ago the world was locked in global war. There was an airshow in the United Kingdom last weekend to mark the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air force ferociously defended their homeland against aerial attack. It was a precarious moment when Britain faced the real possibility of annihilation. It was fulcrum point for human civilization and as Winston Churchill said seventy years ago on 20 August 1940:

“Never was so much owed by so many to so few was a wartime speech made by the British Prime Minister “

In light of this, it always seems remarkable how quick we are to see war as a viable option.The current list of ongoing armed conflicts is truly staggering. I have neither explanations, solutions, or platitudes. I have only to say that there is a strange bearded man, whom I pass on my commute home. He stands on particularly conspicuous intersection with a handwritten anti-war sign. He stands there expressionless in all weather, which in New England can be quite an undertaking. We all think him crazy. But I have to wonder, who really are the crazy ones?

Sunburn art

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Figure 1 - Solar print of wild fennel from Henry Fox Talbot's "The Pencil of Nature." In the public domain because of its age.

Figure 1 – Solar print of wild fennel from Henry Fox Talbot’s “The Pencil of Nature.” In the public domain because of its age.

In six installments from 1844 to 1846 Henry Fox Talbot published his ground-breaking “The Pencil of Nature.” The concept was drawing with light. One of the ways that Talbot drew with light (see Figure 1) was to place a leaf or other object between a glass plate and a sheet of photosensitive paper and create a “sun print.” The photosensitivity of some materials, their tendency to bleach (lighten) or to darken when exposed to light was well known at the time.  The big issue was “fixing” the image.

Perhaps the earliest recognition of photosensitivity was the suntan that our ancient ancestors quickly developed in a Mesopotamian sun. If you didn’t walk around fully naked, the selective nature of tanning (loincloth lines) became quickly obvious.  Our own melanocytes contain melanin the original photosensitive material.

So OK. But now comes the stupid and dangerous part. People are now using their own skin as photographic paper, creating art on the surface of their bodies.  This can be accomplished by “drawing” with sunblock lotion other opaque substances and then going out and burning yourself to a crisp. I do not have to tell you how the various dermatological societies feel about this. But it is, like tattooing, an art form, albeit a much more dangerous one.

What’s wrong with this picture?

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Figure 1 - By a Cretacious sea - IPhone image. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – By a Cretacious sea – IPhone image. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

As the song goes: “By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea…” So it is summer here in New England, and on a hot muggy Sunday I was walking around the local mall, mercifully air conditioned, and came across a display case, where I took the IPhone snap of Figure 1. It is not of great photographic interest to be sure. The display is meant to convey the sense of a summer’s outing to the beach. Great! But what’s wrong with this picture? What beach where? Or more importantly what beach when?

That curly sea shell is actually a fossil ammonite. The ammonoid cephalopods first appeared 400 million years ago in the Devonian and became extinct at the close of the Cretaceous about 66 million years ago. The Shakespeare 1500 year anachronism of a clock in Julius Caesar pales by comparison to this scene off by 66 million years at least. The fact is that for much of their time, ammonites ruled the sea as fearsome predators. Recognize that some species were enormous, much bigger than us. I once saw a National Geographic documentary where a diver went down at night to photograph giant Humboldt red squid and almost got eaten alive.  So have a little respect. But fortunately this summer, you do not need to worry about aggressive cephalopods, and if you are swimming along the US east coast need only concern yourself with great white sharks. Or you could just stay out of the water, people!

Of recurrent nightmares and solar eclipses

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Figure 1 - Solar Eclipse totality March 7, 1970, Virginia Beach, VA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – Solar Eclipse totality March 7, 1970, Virginia Beach, VA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Our discussion yesterday about the Mariner IV journey to Mars, in July 1965, led my mind back to the troublesome sixties. During the summers of 1960 – 1963 the impotence of childhood forced me to endure “dreaded summer camp.” It was not that there is anything wrong with cool lakes and beautiful mountains, it was just that “camp” in those days meant one thing, sports. We have since become more enlightened. And while I was not particularly bad a sports, I had no interest in them. I was already a budding scientist. Anyway, I so dreaded “camp” each year that when I got there I would immediately start counting down the days to that merciful day in August when it would be over. Not important, in 1964, I entered the very special world of New York’s Stuyvesant High School – for science brains like me – and the world became very different. The rest, as they say is history.

My point in telling this is that for years later I would have recurrent nightmares that I was back in “camp” and trapped for another summer.  This was until one night, maybe fifteen years later, when I realized in my dream that I was an adult and if I didn’t like it I could just leave. I was in control. I’ve never had that dream since.  And it is an important lesson, because I believe that much of the conflicts in life relate to the fundamental issue of control. Teenage rebellion is about expressing control. Raising children is about keeping your child safe but at the same time slowly allowing them independence. I think that this issue of control extends to religions, social groups, and even nations. It is a fundamental element of human conflict.

But back to July 1963. I had contracted the mumps and was in quarantine. There was to be a solar eclipse, but our camp was sequestering all the campers in the rec hall to watch a movie and protect their eyes from the sun. These people were idiots! My father rescued me and on July 20 1963, fifty-two years ago today I saw my first partial eclipse of the sun.

Fast forward seven years to March 7, 1970. A lot changes in seven years and you gain some amount of control. My friend Ed Grupsmith, my sister, her friend Caroline, and I went to Virginia Beach to see and photograph a total solar eclipse. Ed and I had our equipment and the whole thing worked out and practiced in detail. We had concocted a clever scheme of using direct positive copy film for black and white. If I remember correctly I shot black and white. Ed shot color.

It may sound strange and geeky, but seeing a total eclipse is life changing. The sun slowly became occluded. We captured the beauty of Baily’s beads, when the rough landscape of the moon causes glorious bright beads to ring the sun. And then suddenly alternating bands of light and dark traversed the beach. These are called shadow bands. The wind picked up, there was darkness, and the stars came out. All the startled seabirds began to squawk at the unexpected night. We could see the fiery trail of a rock launched from near-by Wallop’s Island NASA Launch Facility to photograph the eclipse from high altitude.

And as for the eclipse itself, Figure 1 shows a photograph that I took of totality on that day. It is like so many images of eclipses through the years. These inevitably fail to capture the intrinsic wonder. There is a marvelous three dimensionality to the actual event. The magnet field lines of the Sun pierce the nebulous solar corona.  You feel the fear of primitive people and you feel the power of modern understanding. Like I said, it is a life changing experience.

Photographic first #17 – photographing Mars

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Figure 1 - First image of Mars taken on July 14, 1965 by Mariner IV. From NAA and in the public domain.

Figure 1 – First image of Mars taken on July 14, 1965 by Mariner IV. From NAA and in the public domain.

The beautiful images that are still coming in from last week’s New Horizon’s fly-by of Pluto brings us back to some of the earliest satellite images of other planets. To get a real sense of the improvement in image resolution and quality, we should consider Figure 1, which is the very first image sent back to Earth from Mars by Mariner IV. This was taken fifty years ago last week on July 14, 1965. Mariner’s images were taken from 6,200 miles to 10,500 miles above the Martian surface.

A second Martian first, the first image from the surface of Mars, was taken taken by the Viking 1 lander shortly after it touched down on the planet’s surface nineteen years ago tomorrow on on July 20, 1976. This is shown as Figure2.

When you look at these pictures and compare them to the New Horizon images, you see the evolution of digital photography. Indeed, many of the advances that have enabled low-cost digital imagery today, come from the US space program. Think about this about that the next time you take a snap of the kids. I will avoid a discussion of whether the advent of the selfie is a positive or a negative result of space exploration.

My ears perked up last week, when I heard NASA say that the Pluto fly-by marked the end of their initial survey and exploration of the solar system. In that statement lies the promise of the future. I remember vividly studying in elementary school the European sea explorations that ended in the discovery of the Americas. This “event” lasted over two centuries. They called it the “New World,” which is a term that expressed their sense of wonder and the future.

Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” is set in this mysterious New World and speaks to the magical wonder it evoked in the minds of men and women in that day.

“We all were sea-swallow’d, though some cast again,

and by that destiny to perform an act

Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come

In yours and my discharge.“

Figure 2 - First image of the surface of Mars, July 19, 2006 from NASA and in the public domain.

Figure 2 – First image of the surface of Mars, July 19, 2006 from NASA and in the public domain.

Images from Pluto

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Figure 1 - Ice mountains on Pluto taken by the New Horizons Planetary Explorer, from NASA and in the public domain.

Figure 1 – Ice mountains on Pluto taken by the New Horizons Planetary Explorer, from NASA and in the public domain.

It seems most appropriate to end this week with an image of Pluto taken on its flyby from the New Horizons planetary explorer. Planetary explorer? The words really boggle the mind. The photograph shows ice mountains, most probably made of water, because the dominant ice forms on Pluto, methane and nitrogen, are not strong enough to support two mile high mountains. It is curious how Pluto now seems an old familiar friend despite its 1 billion mile distance from us. In reality nothing could be more alien.  And the mountains are relatively new, perhaps no more than 100 million years, judging from the degree of cratering. Hmm, says Mr. Spock. There are previously unknown terraforming mechanisms at play here! It is easy to say that these are previously unimaginable images.  But that is not really so. For hundreds of years we have imagined what if, and the what if’s are invariably cast in the mindset of the technology of the day. That’s the delightful quaintness of writers like Jules Verne.  And in the meanwhile robotic eyes take us, through photography and other instrumentation, on an amazing journey, that more and more seems to be an integral part of human destiny.

Seeing double

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Figure 1 - Seeing double. (c) J. P. Romfh 2015 reproduced with permission.

Figure 1 – Seeing double. (c) J. P. Romfh 2015 reproduced with permission.

A colleague of mind came back from a vacation to the Lassen Volcano National Park and was showing me some very beautiful pictures. The one of Figure 1 really caught my eye.  I’ve never seen seen this particular trick before and I think it very cool and fun.  Basically, he took a panoramic image with his IPhone (what else?) starting with the kids in the left hand side. When they went out of view he told them to run quickly to the other side and as a result they appear twice in the image. It is very reminiscent of Joel Myerowitz’ classic “A Day on the Beach, 3″ image.   I may just have to try this myself.

The tree of love and remembrance

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Figure 1 - The tree of love and remembrance, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

Figure 1 – The tree of love and remembrance, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015.

The true wilderness is one thing but in suburbia it becomes a matter of closing your ears and eyes a bit – well more than a bit. You’ve got to learn to ignore the sights and sounds of man, to shut  your eyes to fences and the periodic human spore lying about. Years ago in Ithaca, I would go into the gorges and position myself so that I couldn’t see the bridges or any human signs. I would let the roar of the waterfalls drown out the sounds of mankind – the street noises. Then I could marvel and imagine an unspoiled world.

The other afternoon I went into the woods – a sudden refuge of darkness in a brilliantly lit world. You can feel the coolness instantly and this frees you to let your mind wander. You shut your eyes to any intruding images of human habitation. Then I spotted this two-trunked black birch with graffiti all over it. I was dismayed at first. But then I realized that it was covered in little declarations of love. Judging, from the size of the trunks I would guess that this tree dated back at least to the 1960’s. What of these lovers. Their writings are now all stretched out – scars to the tree, but testimonials nonetheless. You wonder what has happened to all of these people. Have their “dreams lost grandeur coming true?”

The tree itself has been meticulously cared for by the stewards of the forest. There is a gouge covered in tar. And most remarkably, where a limb has broken off and the balm of creosote also applied, the scar remaining is itself heart shaped.  I shall call this the tree of love and remembrance.

Hat trick

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Figure 1 - IPhone Selfie in a top-hat. (c) DE Wolf 2015

Figure 1 – IPhone Selfie in a top-hat. (c) DE Wolf 2015

As Figure 1 attests, I found myself this past Sunday mugging in a top-hat for a selfie at the Peabody and Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. What is it about hats, masks, and costumes that transform the self, that take us into worlds imagined? I suspect that it all begins with the masque, a thing that truly metamorphoses us into another dimension. This dimension in prehistoric times took our ancestors into that higher and spiritual plane. It is the same reason that priests wear robes – to transcend.

We have several times discussed how photography enables us to revisit the 19th century to see those people frozen in time, across time. But here is a real, or imagined, possibility to actually transform oneself back, to become one of these people ourselves. I remember a television movie where it is the completeness of the costume that ultimately breaks the bonds of time that unsticks, thank you Kurt Vonnegut, the protagonist. In Figure 1, my Lands End knit shirt protects me from unexpected time warps. The picture works in color, but looks rather stunted when I changed it to black and white. It is of this not that century. So again, the transformation was less than complete.

Your face in a mirror is oh so familiar. The hat transforms it. It hides the hair, or in my case the lack there of. But still the features are strong and recognizable. They are tangible evidence that we have not truly crossed a lamina of time and are just playing with a little magic. Is this a second definition to the phrase “hat trick?”