Photography in the dark?

[JimPD]

Helen,
Spooky or what,
The mine I refer to is the last of the small room & pillar gypsum mines in the Eden Valley, NW England!
The only flourescence I have seen occurs where the strata is very damp in old near-surface workings where small beads of moisture on the surface of the gypsum appear to be the cause. This is not noticable in normal circumstances.
Did you get any photos underground here when you came, It would be interesting to see them.
Jim

 

[Helen B]

Jim,

I certainly did take some photos. They are almost certainly lost, unless there are still copies in some obscure mining archive - very few of the photographs I took before 2002 have survived my many moves.

What is the name of the mine? I can't remember the name of the mine I visited, but seeing it might jog my memory. It was the hot summer of '76, I couldn't forget that.

I was referring to fluorescence in UV radiation - it wouldn't be visible in the presence of normal light.

The double-battery loco lamps common in NCB mines at the time were used a lot for photography and filming. A little bit of diffusion material (like tracing paper) helped to even out the highly directional light distribution, but it was better to use them with a reflector. The same would probably apply to modern high power spots - bounce them off a white or dull silver reflector, or the side of a white (or was-white-when-it-was-painted) vehicle etc.

Good luck,
Helen

 

[JimPD]

Helen,
The mine is called Birkshead & has been operating since 1937. The other mines in the area are Longriggs, Stamphill, Newbiggin, Long Meg and Cocklakes which is nearer Carlisle. These are all closed. The last 2 may have already been closed by '76 (I'd have to check). The first 3 & Birkshead are more likely.
Pity the photos are lost, it would have been interesting to see them.