- Messages
- 353
- Name
- Ken
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Analog
I got a little project going that I started last winter. I shot the Konica and the vernier scale when I was playing with some lights. Just some things I had laying around.
But it occurred to me that most of what we call the 'first world' was built with tools of this vintage. I see some beauty in these tools. Definitely beauty in what they represent.
My dad was an aerospace engineer. A rocket scientist. So were his friends. Late in his life a significant part of his social activity was going to funerals. After one of those he told me, Fred Johnson (not his real name) was at the funeral. I shook my head, I don't know who Fred Johnson is.
Fred Johnson is the guy who calculated the trajectory for the first moon shot. Solved that three-body problem with a slide rule. I'm embarrassed that I don't know Fred Johnson's real name. His slide rule should be in the Smithsonian.
I decided to put together a collection of photographs of these tools from the pre-digital era. Say after WWII and before the LCD screen. Roughly the '50s through the '70s. When we started the move to metric. When a sixteenth of an inch stopped being good enough.
I started with stuff I had. I looked at antique stores and thrift shops for ideas. I bought the typewriter and the Motor Repair Manual at a thrift shop. I need a slide rule, for sure. I'm looking for a telephone. If you've ever said the whole word out loud, you know the type I want.
I'm also looking for a Triplett multimeter, a slide projector, some machine tools, maybe an oscilloscope, a portable reel-to-reel tape recorder. I want to do something with a phonograph record.
It was the early days of plastics and the early days of electronics. Bakelite still looks good, but anything that was glued is coming apart. Crumbling insulation and leaky capacitors makes it hard to find electronics in good shape.
Anybody have any ideas that might fit this theme?
Project is stalled for a little bit. Got some new gear and was shooting outside in 2020 before it became !!!!!2020!!!!!!, and the antique stores and thrift shops closed down. Once it picks back up, I'll post updates.
I got a little project going that I started last winter. I shot the Konica and the vernier scale when I was playing with some lights. Just some things I had laying around.
But it occurred to me that most of what we call the 'first world' was built with tools of this vintage. I see some beauty in these tools. Definitely beauty in what they represent.
My dad was an aerospace engineer. A rocket scientist. So were his friends. Late in his life a significant part of his social activity was going to funerals. After one of those he told me, Fred Johnson (not his real name) was at the funeral. I shook my head, I don't know who Fred Johnson is.
Fred Johnson is the guy who calculated the trajectory for the first moon shot. Solved that three-body problem with a slide rule. I'm embarrassed that I don't know Fred Johnson's real name. His slide rule should be in the Smithsonian.
I decided to put together a collection of photographs of these tools from the pre-digital era. Say after WWII and before the LCD screen. Roughly the '50s through the '70s. When we started the move to metric. When a sixteenth of an inch stopped being good enough.
I started with stuff I had. I looked at antique stores and thrift shops for ideas. I bought the typewriter and the Motor Repair Manual at a thrift shop. I need a slide rule, for sure. I'm looking for a telephone. If you've ever said the whole word out loud, you know the type I want.
I'm also looking for a Triplett multimeter, a slide projector, some machine tools, maybe an oscilloscope, a portable reel-to-reel tape recorder. I want to do something with a phonograph record.
It was the early days of plastics and the early days of electronics. Bakelite still looks good, but anything that was glued is coming apart. Crumbling insulation and leaky capacitors makes it hard to find electronics in good shape.
Anybody have any ideas that might fit this theme?
Project is stalled for a little bit. Got some new gear and was shooting outside in 2020 before it became !!!!!2020!!!!!!, and the antique stores and thrift shops closed down. Once it picks back up, I'll post updates.