Amplifier

For the last two years the Museum has collaborated with Angie Turnbull to capture images of science related collection material. Angie uses a Deardorff large format camera with a Honduras mahogany body (because timber accepts harder use better than metal) and leather bellows between the lens and film plane. Angie manipulates the flexible planes to control the image, focus area and adjust parallax errors and perspective. The camera captures images on a negative that is 8 x 10 inches (20,32 x 25,4 cm).

The following is a statement by photographer Angie Turnbull:

When Campbell Bickerstaff, Curator for Information & Technology, showed me this amplifier, and I personally not having a background in sound, fell in love with this beautiful piece and in fact it’s one of my most favoured images. All the wires, connections, springs & bulb combinations just drew me in. I knew what the 8×10 Deardorff was capable of doing and I had to just let it bring out it’s best. It was a long exposure of approx 40 minutes on the maximum depth of sharpness of F64 on my one and only 300mm lens. In fact all but one of the images that you will see were taken using this lens. In my mind I could imagine the light rays bouncing off each and every part of this exquisite object and onto the film. I extended the exposure time to let the negative get totally saturated with light and to let the image ‘sing’.

We are currently featuring Angie’s photographs in the Museum.

Photography by Angie Turnbull
© All rights reserved