Grand Forks

[Mark Prins]

In the Klondike gold rush of the late 1890's in the Yukon Territory captured the worlds imagination and drew stampeeders from around the world. In the 1980's I lived at 17 & 1/2 AD (seventeen and a half above discovery) on Bonanza Creek gold mining, ten or so claims above the old townsite of Grand Forks. In the town's heyday there were ten thousand people there. A friend of mine staked and sluiced the claim and I ended up possessing the "heavies" from the sluicebox. A five gallon pail of junk that hung around my life for the last few years. The addition of a Contax 645 got me sorting and I have began to explore the material. With that preamble please find one of my first group shots.

The image I find is flat and unimaginative. If any of you could suggest some links to inspire and educate me I would appreciate it.

I left the scale ambiguous because I plan to print these images out at 50x60 inch prints. I am also much happier with toned versions than the color image.

Mark Prins
Inanda Images

 

[Asher Kelman]

The ghosts of the gold-rush can be invited back with this!

The image I find is flat and unimaginative. If any of you could suggest some links to inspire and educate me I would appreciate it.

I left the scale ambiguous because I plan to print these images out at 50x60 inch prints. I am also much happier with toned versions than the color image.

Mark Prins: Gears From the Klondike gold rush 1890's, Yukon Territory
​

Mark,

The image is not shown well stuck in the middle of text, LOL!

Presented, as in a gallery, with white space and room to breath, this, in itself, is an impressive image and works well for me!

Frankly, I like the great variety of rust colors. Age does not attack all things equally and here's a great example of wonderful patina of time. Without the color of the rust, (which we understand so well), we hide the ravages of work, weather, toil and failure this signifies. So right now, the picture is splendid and don't expect more than that. Is it your masterpiece? Perhaps not, but it's perfectly good photography. Many homes, lodges, inns and law offices need a certain tone and timelessness that works in their location. The advantage is that it does not have people suggesting activities that disrupt the atmosphere. It''s an intellectual piece and for my taste, be happy and proud. I personally have a good experience looking at it. Still, it's really a starting point for a lot of exploration and study of the times and society it now represents.

Still, you have your entire collection of old pieces at home! So, doesn't this really belong in a landscape view of the mining towns and the places that have echoes it the past flurries of activity? Since you own this fabulous antique, a reshoot might be an idea. I'd think that at 24 mm the 3D effect would be fabulous and you would then have the gears being the common element in an entire series of photographs. The individual pictures would bring back to us different aspects of the gold rush communities. This treasure trove of rust will allow you to explore so much. You'll be able to bring to us that lost age of driven hopes and passions, where finding gold was often subsistence but the prayer for salvation.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I have to give this a bump!

It deserves more comment!

Asher

 

[Mark Prins]

Sorting through the material the largest and heaviest pieces were indexed out by size and weight. I wanted to create a single image of the set and after a few days of different setups I came up with this image. This is a 3x8 panorama that I didn’t get perfectly aligned. There is a certain amount of sag in my pano head especially when I use it horizontally. Photographed at f11 with a 80mm with the Contax 645.
The layout was influenced by the different people coming through the studio. At the same time I placed each object more than once since it took me three tries to figure out I needed to build this on a mobile platform so I could put it out of the way when clients came and distracted me.
I took Asher’s impressions and thoughts on my earlier Gears image focusing on texture and shadow. Then I went and got a set of lights from a friend and did some (un) creative lighting. The finished print at 20x30 looks different on my wall from the aircraft and cultural images but is has a calming effect.
Not sure where this idea is going but I am having fun shooting it. Some of the items are identifiable so I hope to do a little research and see what I come up with. Thanks for looking.
Mark Prins
Inanda Images

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Sorting through the material the largest and heaviest pieces were indexed out by size and weight. I wanted to create a single image of the set and after a few days of different setups I came up with this image. This is a 3x8 panorama that I didn’t get perfectly aligned. There is a certain amount of sag in my pano head especially when I use it horizontally. Photographed at f11 with a 80mm with the Contax 645.
The layout was influenced by the different people coming through the studio. At the same time I placed each object more than once since it took me three tries to figure out I needed to build this on a mobile platform so I could put it out of the way when clients came and distracted me.
I took Asher’s impressions and thoughts on my earlier Gears image focusing on texture and shadow. Then I went and got a set of lights from a friend and did some (un) creative lighting. The finished print at 20x30 looks different on my wall from the aircraft and cultural images but is has a calming effect.
Not sure where this idea is going but I am having fun shooting it. Some of the items are identifiable so I hope to do a little research and see what I come up with. Thanks for looking.

Hi Mark,

I'll be brief, what a fabulous project/idea and what a good picture (IMO)! Thanks for sharing

Cheers,

 

[Asher Kelman]

Mark,

This is indeed, as Cem indicates, a fabulous project. Already, it gives and impression of an encyclopedic knowledge of the lost mining town. It takes the white settler's rusting remnants to the same platform used to display the artifacts of long disappeared native American tribes.

This is sort of ironic! (Accidental use of the same word) A rusty irony!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I took Asher’s impressions and thoughts on my earlier Gears image focusing on texture and shadow. Then I went and got a set of lights from a friend and did some (un) creative lighting. The finished print at 20x30 looks different on my wall from the aircraft and cultural images but is has a calming effect.
Not sure where this idea is going but I am having fun shooting it. Some of the items are identifiable so I hope to do a little research and see what I come up with. Thanks for looking.
Mark Prins
Inanda Images

Mark,

I'm so fulfilled personally that I might in some way have stimulated another photographer here to really attack the problem of expression of their locked in concepts that are so hard to develop. That's how OPF should work, helping to get each other to the place that each of us struggles to reach. Matisse helped Picasso and that's my own inspiration.

What about the big gear itself! You have an enormous series of possibilities ahead. Since you mentioned shadows, look at the projection of the teeth of gears on the upper right. If one has two sets of oblique lights, it's the patterns on the shadows that might be exaggerated and then their interplay on white space would be where they'd fight it out or dance for you!

Asher

 

[Mark Prins]

Small item panorama, 3x7 image stitch same system as above. The setup was much tighter and stitched much truer. I let clients help with the layout as they came in so about six people worked on the image design. Now the macro work starts. Thanks for looking.
Mark Prins
Inanda Images

 

[Asher Kelman]

Are those bullets on the right lower segment?

 

[Mark Prins]

Yes those are all bullets, the circular section center left is also lead from bullets. There is quite the variety, they are the "heavies" in the sluice box, we often found them. When you were in the old timers workings all kinds of stuff shows up including lots of mercury. Take care.

Mark Prins
Inanda Images

 

[Mark Prins]

Today I learned about umbrellas and gels to remove shadows, thanks Vince. They are kind of fun and I am learning one frame at a time.

There were a lot of copper rivets captured in the sluice along with their covers inscribed with their brand logos. I don't recognize any of them as modern brands but I am sure a little help from Google will solve that. The larger ones have burlap or coco matting trapped in the rivet.

Curtain hooks and wire - collected like items and then filled the holes.

Chain links & Gears. - Like items to start then what caught my fancy to finish the frame.

Bullets Sleeping - Large caliber bullets seem to be resting asleep. One wonders where their companions in the case ended up.

thanks for looking
Mark Prins
Inanda Images

 

[Mark Prins]

I tell the students whom are brave enough to ask my opinion that they need to shoot X frames per day, edit and print at least one per day. My own words are demonstrated as I process out the frames from this project. My focusing abilities and lighting skills have increased a fair bit in my estimation in the last couple of days.

I find myself getting more excited over this project as I find more detail in these items. An example is the bullets that I thought as useless since I am not a hunter anymore (I subsist on mercy moose these days) and my attitude translated to my approach to attempting to capture their story. After cleaning up a couple of cartridges and reading the head stamp and with the help of Google (Bing was useless) I realized I was holding items manufactured in the late 1890's and no later than 1902. History comes alive through these items building a connection to the past.

Cartridge Winchester Repeating Arms Company 44 cal
Contax 645 80mm @ f16 Phase One back​

One of the major items captured by the sluice runs were these lead seals. There are a variety of styles, a majority are smaller "Gold Pack" wire seals. I have not been able to find any information on these items yet. The number of seals suggests they were very common so I suspect I am just looking in the wrong place.

Gold Pack wire seal side A
Contax 645 80mm @ f16 Phase One back

Gold Pack wire seal side B
Contax 645 80mm @ f16 Phase One back​

The lead seals are of a different style again with easier reading of the lettering. Two of the seals so far read Port Of Skagway while others have other locations. I suspect these were custom seals since all materials had to transit through the United States and this concerned Canadians whom were worried by the States wanting to absorb BC & the Yukon into Alaska.

Lead Customs Seal side A
Contax 645 80mm @ f16 Phase One back​

thanks for looking
Mark Prins
Inanda Images

 

[Mark Prins]

Shirt snaps seem immaterial in the big scheme of things yet the detail in these common items call to me and make me want to find the manufacturing company to see if they are still going. This one espically with the stylized N should be easy enough to find with enough time looking. But when looking for orgins I am not shooting and man the pile of material to shoot is still a huge volume.

Shirt Snap Stylized N
Contax 645, 140mm, 93mm extension tube, f16, Phase One back​

thanks for looking
Mark Prins
Inanda Images