# Not so green



## Tim Tucker (Aug 16, 2016)

LOL, communicating a lack of colour with B&W has to be a no-brainer!

But...

YeeHaa!!!  First shots from the Linhof Technika Super IV as the German designers intended, with new bellows, (and a bit of vaseline), now fully functional. 

With the day punctuated by a particularly painless mid day visit to the dentist I headed off with the newly fixed camera for some early afternoon shots. Fairly harsh light with a distant haze, I was looking for some close action rather than distant vistas and figured on some nice tree shots, as I'm sometimes inclined, but came across this distinct lack of trees. Both shot on FP4 Plus rated at 80ASA and developed in HC110 1+7 (1+31 from concentrate) for 8 mins. Lens and exposure details below each shot:

View attachment 126137

Caltar II N 150mm, f32 @ 1/4 sec with the +3 red filter.

View attachment 126140

Shot into the light with a Clarion G 240mm, f32 @ 1/2 sec +3 red filter.


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## jcdeboever (Aug 16, 2016)

I just want to fly or drive down to where ever you are and buy you a box of lucky charms, Qt of 100% wholesome D milk, share a bowl with you, and then slap you for the great artist you are. Flipping incredible.


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## limr (Aug 16, 2016)

I can't decide which one I like better. The images are both beautiful and ominous.


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## tirediron (Aug 16, 2016)

Truly excellent!


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## Designer (Aug 16, 2016)

This is enough to send an environmentalist into a hysterical frenzy.

Terrific find, sir!


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## terri (Aug 16, 2016)

Brilliant.   Well done!


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## Tim Tucker (Aug 17, 2016)

Thanks for the comments.


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## Deleted member 215987 (Aug 17, 2016)

Great juxtaposition! We need more photos like those to motivate people!


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## Tim Tucker (Aug 17, 2016)

jcdeboever said:


> Qt of 100% wholesome D milk, share a bowl with you



You had another run in with John Wayne? We drink whisky around here. 



limr said:


> I can't decide which one I like better. The images are both beautiful and ominous.



Aye, the first appeals to my 'Ansel' tonal sensibilities, but 2 is the one I wanted. Shooting towards the main bulk of the wind farm, not a tree standing, all completely replaced by turbines. But it meant shooting into the light, and I hate shooting into the light with film because it's so harsh. Fortunately it suits the subject, but even so I was thinking of returning in the morning. But on developing the neg the deep shadows on the stumps are essential in simplifying the shapes in the foreground, with the morning  light on them it would just be a mass of contrast.



Designer said:


> This is enough to send an environmentalist into a hysterical frenzy.



Funnily enough on that lonesome road, in the middle of nowhere, I did meet one who, shall we say, was not enthusiastic about find farms...



riverrat373 said:


> Great juxtaposition!



I had the definite feeling that the trees had been 'replaced'...


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## Gary A. (Aug 17, 2016)

jcdeboever said:


> I just want to fly or drive down to where ever you are and buy you a box of lucky charms, Qt of 100% wholesome D milk, share a bowl with you, and then slap you for the great artist you are. Flipping incredible.


+1 and I'd fortified it with a boost of single malt.


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## jcdeboever (Aug 17, 2016)

Gary A. said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> > I just want to fly or drive down to where ever you are and buy you a box of lucky charms, Qt of 100% wholesome D milk, share a bowl with you, and then slap you for the great artist you are. Flipping incredible.
> ...



I don't know Gary, they're magically delicious and I did offer whole D milk, not the crap pictured.


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## Gary A. (Aug 17, 2016)

Why the hell do you even have Lucky Charms?


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## Tim Tucker (Aug 17, 2016)

LOL, in a carton? My brother-in-law is a dairy farmer, when he runs out of milk he picks up the jug and walks out the back door.


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## jcdeboever (Aug 17, 2016)

Gary A. said:


> Why the hell do you even have Lucky Charms?


dinner


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## jcdeboever (Aug 17, 2016)

Tim Tucker said:


> LOL, in a carton? My brother-in-law is a dairy farmer, when he runs out of milk he picks up the jug and walks out the back door.



ooooh how I would love to milk a cow... I would take a pic too... probably a bad one...


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## jcdeboever (Aug 17, 2016)

while farting like a banshee.!


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## bulldurham (Aug 20, 2016)

I am more inclined toward the first one. I'd give you a good reason but the cow I was milking kicked me in the head and I'm not thinking clearly. Maybe I'm not leading a charmed life.


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## Tim Tucker (Aug 20, 2016)

bulldurham said:


> I am more inclined toward the first one. I'd give you a good reason but the cow I was milking kicked me in the head and I'm not thinking clearly. Maybe I'm not leading a charmed life.



LOL, I think you photographer types have far too romantic ideas, we're quite mechanised, (even in deepest Somerset). When my bro-in-law wants some milk he doesn't reach for the three legged stool, but goes to the big stainless steel tank in the milking shed. The old oak apple press in the old barn though...


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## bulldurham (Aug 20, 2016)




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## SoulfulRecover (Aug 22, 2016)

beautiful and sad. I wish humans were much more kind to the Earth


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## FITBMX (Aug 23, 2016)

To quote John Prine "And they wrote it down as the progress of man." 
Was the whole turbine field cleared of trees, or was it just this little area?

You did an outstanding job on these, they tell a story in every way!


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## FITBMX (Aug 23, 2016)

Nominated!!!
August 2016 POTM Nominations


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## Tim Tucker (Aug 24, 2016)

FITBMX said:


> Was the whole turbine field cleared of trees, or was it just this little area?



The second looks SE to the main bulk of Black Law wind Farm which is about 54 turbines (though the nearest turbines are part of the phase 1 extension). The first image is NE towards the phase 1 extension of 23 turbines for which 560 hectares of forestry were cleared (essentially from where I'm standing to the furthest turbine ).

But being fair and because I presented a slightly biased view, I would add that it was a Forestry Commission plantation, trees that were planted to be harvested. Though the Forestry Commission farm by clearing smaller areas and re-planting.


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## FITBMX (Aug 24, 2016)

Tim Tucker said:


> The second looks SE to the main bulk of Black Law wind Farm which is about 54 turbines (though the nearest turbines are part of the phase 1 extension). The first image is NE towards the phase 1 extension of 23 turbines for which 560 hectares of forestry were cleared (essentially from where I'm standing to the furthest turbine ).
> 
> But being fair and because I presented a slightly biased view, I would add that it was a Forestry Commission plantation, trees that were planted to be harvested. Though the Forestry Commission farm by clearing smaller areas and re-planting.



560 Hectares is a lot of trees! 
I am really back and forth on wind turbines, to me they are kinda the lesser of two evils. It seems like there are better ways if they would just try it.

Great photos, and thanks for the info.


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## Gary A. (Aug 24, 2016)

Couldn't they just make the turbines higher than the trees?


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## TamingRoman (Aug 24, 2016)

Really interesting.  Good stuff.  Love the first one the most.


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## weepete (Aug 25, 2016)

Very nice Tim, I also like the juxtaposition and how you've kept just a bit of movement in the turbine blades.


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## bulldurham (Aug 25, 2016)

Wind turbines are bird killers but for the most part, once erected most are pretty much maintenance free. I know a lot of folks who use them on cabins out in the boondocks in conjunction with Solar panels because there's no other way to get electricity. Where they are put up in the US, they get lots of raptors though like any animal, they learn to avoid those huge propellers.


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## Tim Tucker (Aug 25, 2016)

bulldurham said:


> Wind turbines are bird killers but for the most part, once erected most are pretty much maintenance free. I know a lot of folks who use them on cabins out in the boondocks in conjunction with Solar panels because there's no other way to get electricity. Where they are put up in the US, they get lots of raptors though like any animal, they learn to avoid those huge propellers.



A bit of an urban myth, as though they do kill birds domestic cats kill approximately 10,000x more per year.

The biggest problem is that they are not efficient. One turbine can power 1000 homes, but only when the wind is blowing so it's at it's most efficient. So assuming that they are at their most efficient all the time it would take a minimum of 4,000 sq miles of wind farms just to satisfy the domestic requirement of the UK, nearly 15% of the total area of Scotland, (100 acres per turbine, 1000 homes per turbine, and 25 million homes).


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## Tim Tucker (Aug 25, 2016)

weepete said:


> Very nice Tim, I also like the juxtaposition and how you've kept just a bit of movement in the turbine blades.



 Yes, and quite deliberate, they become a little more 'tree' shaped.


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## Overread (Aug 25, 2016)

I'm glad to see one of these got nominated as I was just about to nominate as well. This is really great photography and a very interesting message to be told! 



Interestingly the trees, at least in the first photo, look to be in straight rows (although this might just be a trick of the angle and the area chosen); so for those with a conservation mind-set this might well have been commercial plantation rather than native or wild woodland. Thus clearing of plantation might well be the first step. Although if it were a conservation initiative I'd have thought they'd have ground the stumps/pulled them and then aimed to restore back to grassland - at the very least stump removal before turbine construction. 

And yes, sadly like solar and a lot of other green methods of energy generation; yes they work but they are nothing like as capable of putting out hte raw power levels that industry requires; and with AirCon and electronics on the rise the "can power x number of homes" statement gets a bit more iffy


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## Tim Tucker (Aug 25, 2016)

Overread said:


> Interestingly the trees, at least in the first photo, look to be in straight rows (although this might just be a trick of the angle and the area chosen); so for those with a conservation mind-set this might well have been commercial plantation rather than native or wild woodland.



Yes, great observation. See page 2.


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## Overread (Aug 25, 2016)

Tim Tucker said:


> Overread said:
> 
> 
> > Interestingly the trees, at least in the first photo, look to be in straight rows (although this might just be a trick of the angle and the area chosen); so for those with a conservation mind-set this might well have been commercial plantation rather than native or wild woodland.
> ...



Ahh I glanced through the pages but missed your last post on that page - yes that certainly explains it.

Actually now I note your country as well it might interest some that the stripping of plantation forest has happened in the south as well. Several plots have been given over to the RSPB to manage; who have stripped out the pine plantation and are aiming to put the land back into heather heathland.


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