The Blacksmiths - Black & White Practice
At the last fair, I had the occasion to capture some masters working on their masterpiece. It is always a pleasure to see these talented people in action, even if some of the actions are not so spectacular. There was sewing, beading, crocheting, weaving, carving, egg decorating and what not. I would have loved to see an document felting, but was in a hurry and the lady was just watering her working station, she did not even lay out the first layer, so it would have taken around 20 minutes to get somewhere, so I said maybe another time.
At the end of the fair, the last ones were these two guys, two blacksmith that were there to demonstrate the visitors how it's done and I could not be happier. Today I decided to turn the whole experience into a black and white practice, since it's been ages since my last one.
When I was a little kid, my grandfather took us to the blacksmith of the village, to show us how horseshoes are made. It was a very interesting experience as us, city born and raised kids have never seen such thing. Unfortunately the blacksmith is not among us, he passed away last year. He had a similar setup, like these guys, as far as I can remember.
We're in 2023, blacksmiths have modern equipment these days, most of the process is made easier, but these guys were working with the equipment our grandfathers had. I did not mind as this is how it started and it's important to know.
This is not a topic I'm very familiar with in English, so I had to look up certain things, but that big, black thing the guy is operating is called blacksmith bellows and it serves to keep the fire alive, so he can heat the iron. It used to be done manually, which is not easy, but since we have electricity, it's easier.
What you see here are tools and different objects they have created. I was standing there, looking at what they were doing and hoping they would start hammering the iron.
They must have read my mind as soon I saw them starting the work I was hoping to see. So I went there quickly and started taking photos.
What you see here, are photos I took in the exact order I took them, so maybe if you scroll through them it would appear as if it would be a motion picture? 😃
Most likely they are working together as their moves were really coordinated, there was a certain harmony between them as well. They knew exactly how to do it and never missed any of the hits.
If you're not familiar with their work, let me quickly explain what they were doing.
They were working on a blade, most likely a knife blade. Both were hitting the blade, but with different size of hammers. The guy with the hat holding the blade, was also turning it on both sides.
They did this for a few minutes, till the iron got cold, then took a break, while the iron was heated in the fire.
This was an important practice as I usually don't photograph people in action, didn't have a tripod to make my work easier, so I said, let's see how many photos can I take and if I can select a couple of them, that are at least half decent. To my surprise, none of the photos were blurry, I didn't have to delete any, which is a huge achievement for me. As about quality ... this is the best I could do, but I'm not complaining :) It was fun.
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That hipster is really going for it! Love the monochrome shots
Lol, they did a great job indeed.
I thought monochrome will be more suitable.
Yes , funny you know, I am only now beginning to enjoy mono, shunned it for years, but given the right subject matter it works better than colour.
We agree on that. I like to use mono, especially when it comes to architecture, but this kind of themes like the one in the post are also good. I don't think the color version would have been better.
In any case, I encourage you to give it a try as you have so many good shots that would look good in mono as well, especially those urbex photos. Am I wrong?
Hmm! I don't know, I shall do an urbex one with some mono mixed in see what reaction I get, tbh I never considered that before
Then it's time to do so :) Please 😄
duh Okkkkkkkkk
I think this is a job that requires energy, they seem to spend a lot of energy making iron shoes. and black and white photos are suitable for this. Thank you friends for sharing your experiences with all of us.
This job requires a lot of energy as you have to hit the iron quite a lot to get what you want, not to mention the heat you're working in as the iron is hot and you also have to be close to the source of the heat. It's not an easy job.
Thank you friend @erika for sharing your experience and knowledge with everyone. happy weekend friend
Those guys are old school! That kind of work is incredibly hard and labor intensive. My hat's off to them for keeping the old ways alive. Great shots by the way, that was really cool!
Yes, they are old school and that's the purpose of this demonstration. I've read an interview in the paper and they say the industry is on life support, if not dead already. They are most likely on of the few, if not the only ones working for museums. Imagine, those old style tools, swords and other objects, replicas you see in the museums have to be custom made and they are doing that.
Very cool you did pictures in black and white its really fitting for a trade that has been around for many many years. Bladesmithing is an interesting form of blacksmithing. Seeing a forge is pretty cool and seeing the metal pulled out of being red tells you it pretty hot, haha. Also that part of blacksmithing is becoming very popular now.
Story time...I still remember my father taking me to a blacksmith to repair tractor parts or anything metal that needed repaired. The blacksmith was in his 70's and he fit the bill. He wore overalls, a hat like a train engineer, and black boots. He had an assortment of hammers, forges, welders, torches, vises, files, and you name it anything that was needed to shape and fix metal items. He would always tell my father exactly what he was going to do with it. The process laid out which is pretty cool if you think about it. If it was a quick fix we could watch from a distance.
BTW my grandfather was a welder for a well known silverware company for 40 years. I have pictures too 😁 Don't know when but I promise to write/share about it. Have a good weekend. 3 birds and no fish for me in my crystal ball, lol.
Some themes look better in black and white, especially when you want to focus on details.
There are a few who are doing it as an art and those are creating good quality products as well, I'd say luxury products. Other than that, I don't know how many blacksmith there are in my country, or in the US. These guys on the photos are really working as blacksmith, they do works for museums too. Imagine how many old weapons have to be recreated or other instruments. He said in an interview that they are doing that.
Your story looks a bit like mine as my grandfather took us kids to the blacksmith as well, but only once. So consider yourself lucky :)
That story about your grandfather would be interesting, when you have the time.
3 birds? Are you hunting too?
Haha, well they make feel like it as I haven't seen one yet. Probably will later this evening and for sure one around midnight. The good is I got some of my weekend back but I was prepared to work and now all will bunched together
Looking down from heaven (if possible). Our fathers will be sorrowful, because the life we are living now is far better and easier than theirs. I think the blacksmiths want us to travel back in time and be grateful for now 😊
They want us to remember what life was once and how these objects were made. Or learn about it as many have no clue at all.
That’s true 🤔
Love the captured photos ,how I wish I could done this kind of shots.
Thank you @mitch18, but it's not a big deal, you just push the button and process the photos after, if it's needed.
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Does Photography lovers have a discord server where I can chat?
No, we don't have a Discord server.
Do you want to chat about photography in general? Or is it related to the community?
It is related to an account that seems to be muted, wanted to find out what the procedure would be to get the account unmuted. Its a new user I brought to the platform which is using the @dragonslayer101 account.
Rules
Yes, I see it's an account created in 2017. The account is muted, because we don't support users who are posting on other chains. @dragonslayer101 is still active on Steemit.
If they want their account unmuted, the only way is to stop posting on Steemit and Blurt (can't open Blurt now to check if the account is active there) and come back in 2 months, ask for a case review.
2 months seems like a pretty long time. It was my mistake however as I just gave them access to my account and told them there are a few platforms to post on. There is other people who use my steemit account though would this be a problem? Is there no way to be unmuted sooner?
I'm not sure if I understand you correctly. So are you saying the dragonslayer101 account is yours on both chains, but there are two different people using them? One on each chain? If so, we see it as one account, as there's no way to verify who's behind each account.
Two months is the period we require from users. This rule was announced in February and applied since April this year.
Yes, I am the owner of this account and the dragonslayer101 account. All my accounts have multiple users on them who post and curate content. But yes verifying who is using the account at a given time would be impossible to track.
Is there no warning first for someone who misunderstands the rules or who is breaking them for the first time?
There was a post in February, announcing the rule change. We left two months for users to decide where they would like to continue their journey. Then after two months, there was another post to announce the decision making period is over. Then we waited for another two weeks, before starting any actions. We're in October now. Rules are listed in each group and no offense, but each user should read the rules, before posting.
It's all fair, communities can be managed however they want to be managed. Just to clarify it is 2 months before the user can be unmuted?
I'll manage the users that use my accounts to prevent such issues in future.
Yes, 2 months. After the 2 months passed, they can leave a comment to me or @castleberry, mention a few words about their case and ask to be reinstated. This refers to Steemit and Blurt too.
Thank you. I appreciate your assistance with this matter.
You're welcome.