Pinhole Wisconsinably

 

Everybody thinks of the lumber of the north as the early economic driver of Wisconsin, but lead mining in the southwest was the first profitable industry to make the state's reputation. American badgers (Taxidea taxus) are a native species all across the state, but no more than the rest of the western half of the continent. Going underground to get lead is what made us Badgers.

Potosi Brewing is particularly situated to claim this heritage. The volcanism associated with a tectonic plate collision 2.8 billion years ago pumped up lots of minerals in the region. It's located in the Driftless Area, where no glaciers passed to push everything into Illinois, so the lead was still available to make shot and some of the pipes we had replaced this past year.

This is part of an ongoing project to cut out the parts of my cameras with a Cricut Explore 4 cutting machine. I'm not sure what the final objective is, but I'm trying to make a more finished-looking product, as well as more accurate and reliable. This is close. There are still a few errors resulting from being distracted overcoming a few stupid incompatibilities with Inkscape's SVG files, and Cricut Design's inconsistency in bringing those in at exactly 100%. It's been pretty good at cutting out the outside parts exactly where I wanted from the design.

At the workshop in DePere, Colette LaRue was giving away rolls of Ilford Pan F+ that had expired in 2021. At ISO 50, Pan F+ may seem to be a challenge for pinhole exposure times, but even on an overcast day, exposures are only about 20 seconds, and it brings sunny day exposures up to a manageable one second.

What could be more Wisconsinable than going to Menomonee Park to photograph the ice on Lake Winnebago? It was a sunny spring-like day at home, but 500 square kilometers of melting half-meter-thick ice changes the atmosphere and the light near the lake. I picked a fuzzy, asymmetrical tree along the shore to add to my series of the north inlet to Millers Bay.

The lake is the water supply for the city and a critical part of the storm sewer system. Every so often, a concrete pipe will be sticking out into the ice, or an anomalous spot of open water will be visible on the shore next to a small utility structure.

At the end of the T-dock, some holes drilled to evaluate the condition of the ice, and the last few stalwarts out on the bay.

A diverse group of leaves frozen into the ice.

Some of the ice trying to come ashore.

The ramp onto the lake at Merritt Avenue is still installed, but blocked. All the bridges over the cracks have been hauled in.

Riding down Bowen Street, I couldn't miss The Oshkosh Rhythm Institute, which organizes drum circles  "to promote wellness in our community through social music making." Hmmm. Community drum circles are from 7-9 pm on Wednesday, when the evening sun is shining into those big windows in the summer.

That drew my attention to other small-business storefronts scattered in the area, which is the oldest part of the city.  Kowboi Kitchen, Chicago style food.

A very large phone number, oddly emphasized in the internet age, featuring one of my typographical pet peeves: More space between the lines of type than there is from the edges of the sign. Baseline dots instead of x-height dashes is kind of 21st-century, though.

The address says Bowen, but this is the back entrance to Possum's Bait Shop and Antiques on Mill Street.

We're getting into the season where I can bike around the city, but the trees are still providing detailed shadows.

There will probably be more of this sort of thing.

These are 3800 pixels wide. I spend quite a bit of time looking at these at the 200% view, retouching dust, and I can't see grain at even that magnification. I deliberately overexposed about a stop because the film was so old, but it wasn't necessary. I've got another roll of it.

The Badgersette has two .25mm pinholes on the axis and 13mm above it, 30mm from a 6x6cm film plane. The film plane is the whole 6x6cm with the proper folds. The Pan F+ was semistand developed in really syrupy Rodinal from the bottom of the bottle, 1:100.