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Conveying impressions: Beyond the single photo
Techniques
A picture is worth a thousand words, but when portraying huge plants, even with lots of pictures it can be difficult to convey a sense of its dimensions, its geographic situation, its topology and of how it "feels" to to someone who hasn't personally experienced it.
There are three techniques than can convey such impressions possibly better and in a much shorter period of time than single photographs: panoramic photography, aerial photography and videography which, by the way, might be the medium of choice for documenting living industry anyway.
I recently started to experiment with both panoramic photography and videography. In this series, I will post notes, observations, ideas and first results. This is by no means meant as a tutorial, but should give you starting points for own experiments.
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:: in category Beyond the single photo
OPEL Car Factory
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OPEL Factory II, Bochum, Germany. Opened after the huge mining crisis in the late 1960ies, the OPEL plant once was the symbol for a modern economy "after the coal" - meanwhile, it has already seen its own crisis but seems to be back on track now.
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Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Schönes NRW
Man sollte sowas hier nicht so nachteilig sehen. A ist der Versagenfall konstruktiv eh der interessanteste, b sieht man sowas nicht alle Tage und c ist es alles andere als frei von Ästhetik. Gäbe bestimmt eine prima Fotoserie.
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Sketchbook: The Last Days of Disco
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When plants get demolished, one can usually find interesting shots until the last days. The Last Days of Disco before the wastelands take over. A sketchbook →
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Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Delicious timeout
Fetching the del.icio.us RSS feeds for the QuickLinks sidebar and the Tagback sections is causing some troubles so I've suspended it for the moment. Some error handling could do the trick.
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Tilting apparatus
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Tiny part of a bearing of a tilting apparatus for BOS/LD steel making vessels. In German, this would be called a part of a Konverterschwenkvorrichtung.
Hoesch Phoenix steel mill (OX DO), Dortmund-Hörde, Germany
Photo taken July 2003, plant completely torn down since
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Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Quick Reminder
All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke
It is even better to act quickly and err than to hesitate until the time of action is past.
Carl von Clausewitz
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Refocus
Ever got your lens focus wrong and thus ruined that special photo? That's so yesterday. Simply refocus any time later →
[Thanks Ralf]
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UFO Landing
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UFO landing? Of course not. Night over Ruhr Area. More of the same plant here.
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Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Behämmert
Am Wochenende war der Berliner Volkspalast zum letzten Mal für Besucher geöffnet, der behämmertste, unverständlichste Abriss der BRD soll die Tage beginnen. Oder gibt es doch noch eine Chance? Siehe auch Gebt uns den Palast! Und an die Berliner Leser: sollten die Bagger doch rollen, macht vorher noch ein paar Fotos. Auf flickr.com/photos/tags/volkspalast/ wird man sich freuen.
IM ARCHIV
2005-08-06 Volkspalast - Der Berg
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397 Ja-Stimmen
Jedem neuen Anfang wohnt ein Zauber inne, und es ist nur fair zu sagen, daß zwei Ingenieure bzw. Naturwissenschaftler, die nicht seit ihrer Jugend in Parteiapparaten steckten und den Film mit dem Systemwechsel mitgemacht haben, gar keine so schlechte Ausgangslage sind. Unbeschriebene Blätter im positiven Sinne und möglicherweise wirklich Anfang eines Neuen, Unhysterischen, Pragmatischen.
Denn der deutsche Übergang zur Nüchternheit vollzieht sich in keiner satten Zeit, er vollzieht sich inmitten der ersten echten Bewährungsprobe, vor der die Bundesrepublik jemals stand. Er vollzieht sich angesichts einer Arbeitslosigkeit, die mit politischen Mitteln nicht mehr gesenkt werden kann, angesichts einer Altersarmut, die mit Sicherheit droht, angesichts einer kulturellen Desintegration, die mit Parolen von einer nationalen Leitkultur nicht einmal ansatzweise beherrscht werden kann. Es ist eine Lage, die nicht einmal übertrieben werden muss, um empfunden zu werden. Jeder kann sie in seinem Alltag erleben. In früheren Zeiten hätte sie sich geradezu zwingend für Demagogen und Radikale jeder Couleur geeignet.
Und in der Tat sind mit der Linkspartei einerseits und mit den wirtschaftsliberalen Agitatoren im Umfeld der FDP andererseits solche Demagogen auch schon aufgetreten. Aber nichts da! Das Volk hat sich nicht aufwiegeln lassen. Es hat sogar die CDU für den einzigen Ausflug, den diese skeptische Partei ins Reich der radikalen Lösungen unternommen hat, nämlich mit dem Steuerwunderprediger Kirchhof, streng bestraft und auf das Maß zurückgestutzt, das zu den Kompromissen einer Großen Koalition zwingt,
schreibt da DIE ZEIT. Bleibt nur das Detail, daß die idelogischen Grabenkämpfer, die Karrieregeknickten, Übergangengefühlten, Lieberdochselbstregierenwoller und sonstwie Geladenen innerhalb und außerhalb der Koalition ihre in letzter Zeit dankenswerterweise recht flächig eingehaltene Sendepause bald beenden werden um zu schauen, was so geht. Und wir werden schauen können, was die Regierung so kann. Wünschen wir ihr Glück.
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Feed Water Conditioning
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While conditioning the boiler feed water in steam power plants with hydrazine and other chemicals is most important, the facilities used for doing so are easily overlooked when taking photos - even though they can look quite picturesque, can't they?
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Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Google Base launched
Semantic Web people now have something else to point to when explaining: "…it’s kinda like Google Base only with more semantics and …er… the Web"
Google Base, the next step to Google's Walled-Garden-So-Big-You-Can't-See-The-Walls TM has launched. Danny Ayers has a rather balanced early review in which he also points to other, more pro and con reviews Google Base : RDF lite silo? →
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Born to Run
Scott, Nico, this one's for you :-)
Sprinsteen-Masterpiece "Born to Run" turns 30. Two birthday gifts:
A seven-episode audio recording in MP3 format, in this year's fashion called podcast even though they play on any MP3 device, which "takes the listener from inception to completion of the seminal album through audio highlights." Free download [via brucespringsteen.net News]
A Born to Run Remastered release that comes with two extra DVDs, the 90 minutes documentary "Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Run" and the recording of "a full-length concert (two hours, sixteen songs) the E Street Band performed in London not long after Born to Run came out." Out on November 18 and "nothing short of inspiring", the Rolling Stone reviewer says. Anyone looking for a gift for me? ;-)
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Ougrée
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Kitsch Day here on Endangered Machinery :-)
Cockerill-Sambre blast furnace HF B, Ougrée, Liège, Belgium
In service, closedown likely within the next 12 months
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150 tons Basic Oxygen (LD) Furnace
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DEMAG Basic Oxygen (LD) Furnace with 150 tons tapping weight and 1.51 million tons annual output
Ruhrstahl Henrichshütte, Hattingen, Germany
Put into service 1973, closed down 1993, captured 2004, completely demolished 2005
RELATED
After the closedown of the the mill's two blast furnaces in 1987, the Basic Oxygen (LD) Furnace was charged with crude steel from this Electric Arc Furnace. Both were mounted on the same platform: seen from this vantage point, the EAF was located to the left of the LD vessel outside of the picture.
BROWSE SIMILAR
Steel Industry
Henrichshütte Integrated Steel Works ← Hattingen ← Germany
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"Das Traurigste ist, daß man keinen Ärger mehr riskieren will"
Augstein-Tochter Franziska hat in einer denkwürdigen Rede das offen ausgesprochen, was der Leser längst gemerkt hat, nämlich daß der SPIEGEL unter Selbstdarsteller Aust "seinen Platz als Leitmedium verloren" und sich "auf die so genannten weichen Themen" verlagert hat, also zu einem "geschwätzigen Blatt unter anderen" wurde (freilich ohne daß Adäquates nachgerückt ist). Leider scheint es den Text der Rede noch nicht im Volltext online zu geben. Der Tagesspiegel bietet zumindest einen Auszug →
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Une ville à vivre
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"Une ville à vivre", what else, is the slogan of the City of Seraing shown here in an April, 2005 shot. With the mill shut down in the meantime, things don't look much brighter now though.
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Forges de Clabecq
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Forges de Clabecq, Clabecq near Brussels, Belgium
Along with most other facilities of this rather large integrated mill, the shown blast furnaces plant was shut down December 31, 2001 after massive struggles between the management and the strong leftist labor union. As a result of the struggles, the hot rolling mill remains operational down to the present day, giving work to at least a tiny fraction of the once 6,500 at this place.
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CARSID Haut Fourneau 4
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CARSID Haut Fourneau 4 Marcinelle-au-Pont, Charleroi, Belgium
Later today I will be leaving for a weekend trip to Belgium in order to visit a number of operational and closed down steel mills in Charleroi, Clabecq (Brussels) and Ougree (Liege). Then, WebMonday in Cologne. Don't expect any updates until after that. Instead, check all the good stuff on the other blogs :-)
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150 tons Electric Arc Furnace
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DEMAG Electric Arc Furnace with 150 tons tapping weight
Ruhrstahl Henrichshütte, Hattingen, Germany
Closed down when photo taken, completely demolished since
There is quite a number of such furnaces in the collection yet, and even though this one seems to look rather small, it indeed is the one with the highest tapping weight of all EAFs I've seen so far.
With some luck, I will soon be able to present you photos of an ultra-modern 160 tons EAF that was put into service just one month and three days ago - which will be quite an interesting contrast to the rather old facility shown here. Stay tuned.
BROWSE SIMILAR
EAF steel making ← Steel Industry
Henrichshütte Integrated Steel Works ← Hattingen ← Germany
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Posted in category Endangered Machinery
Lustiges Regierungsbilden ...
Wenn das so weiter geht schaut es bei der SPD bald aus wie weiland im Kabinett Helmut Kohls: der Nächste, der nachts im Regierungsviertel gesehen wird, bekommt ein wichtiges Amt. Wäre ich die CDU, würde ich schauen, eine weitere Neuwahl auszulösen, einen messbaren Vorsprung vor der SPD hinzukriegen und diese Deppen dann wie die Sau durchs Dorf zu treiben. Braucht man freilich cojones für, kann die CDU also nicht machen. Politikverdrossenheit, irgendjemand?
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Number Two
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Spaceship Number Two or: ladle furnace and turret in a closed down steel mill. To get an impression of the size of this jumble, observe the staircases and handrails as measuring units.
BROWSE SIMILAR
Steel treatment ← Stahlwerke Oberhausen (Oberhausen Steel Works) | Steel Industry | Oberhausen ← Ruhr Area
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