Headframe Wheels

[Manfred M]

These two giant wheels are at the top of the head frame of the King Mine at Thetford Mines, Quebec. This asbestos mine was closed some years ago and is now a museum.

[FootLoose]

Nice work, Manfred, I like the perspective you have used, it gives a good sense of scale.

[ST1]

Impressive engineering, well captured Manfred.
I’m surprised that it has become a museum given the health problems the mined material has caused. It must have had some serious decontamination before allowing the public in.


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[george013]

These two giant wheels are at the top of the head frame of the King Mine at Thetford Mines, Quebec. This asbestos mine was closed some years ago and is now a museum.

Interesting. A typical wide angel picture.
How did they clean that asbestos mine? In Holland if they find asbestos in a house a whole circus is coming, checking the amount of asbestos in the air and on surfaces, closing the infected area, clean the air with special vacuum cleaners, treat the surfaces to bind the asbestos, done by people dressed in full closed costumes going through a shower when they leave that area.
Just wondering how did they do that with a mine?

George

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Manfred M]

Interesting. A typical wide angel picture.
How did they clean that asbestos mine? In Holland if they find asbestos in a house a whole circus is coming, checking the amount of asbestos in the air and on surfaces, closing the infected area, clean the air with special vacuum cleaners, treat the surfaces to bind the asbestos, done by people dressed in full closed costumes going through a shower when they leave that area.
Just wondering how did they do that with a mine?

George

I have definitely seen that operation in Canada as well. The whole area is sealed off and put under negative pressure during cleaning and the people doing the work are in full hazmat suits with respirators who are cleaned off when exiting the work area.

This is just one of the mine buildings. the entrance to the mine and the skips (elevators) to take the men into the mine and bring the mined material back to the surface. The mine shaft itself would have been sealed off. Removal of any loose fibres and then using HEPA vacuum cleaners to remove anything that remains was probably not that difficult, just time consuming (expensive).

The situations you are referring to where the asbestos "binds" to surfaces would typically be fireproofing and insulating materials where the asbestos was mixed with adhesives to coat on materials is a bit different than just the loose material from the mining operations itself.

Restoring the areas we toured would have been relatively easy, but time consuming (i.e. expensive).

[Donald]

A image that emphasises the power of the machinery. Indeed, the power of the image can carry the extensive flare spots from the lights.

[shreds]

The situations you are referring to where the asbestos "binds" to surfaces would typically be fireproofing and insulating materials where the asbestos was mixed with adhesives to coat on materials is a bit different than just the loose material from the mining operations itself.

Restoring the areas we toured would have been relatively easy, but time consuming (i.e. expensive).

There is no known ‘safe’ level of exposure to asbestos fibres, if ingested into the lungs where they can develop into tumours which can take up to 40 years to become malignant. The fibres are microscopic and so cleansing and eradication of affected areas including disposal is difficult, time consuming and expensive. Proving the areas and air to be “cleansed” requires air sampling after removal operations for a period of time, and we are talking considerations of “parts per million”.

It matters not if it has been processed or combined with other binders. In fact until the binders are damaged/worked on or broken, asbestos encapsulated in such materials is likely to be “safer” than freshly mined material where loose fibres may be released as the encapsulating natural mineral material is broken.

Certainly not a place I would rush to capture photos at.

[DanK]

It's a well-composed an interesting image (I like this genre myself), but I have to say that the bright light at the top right and the flare around it are unfortunately very distracting. Not much one could do about it, I realize.

[Manfred M]

It's a well-composed an interesting image (I like this genre myself), but I have to say that the bright light at the top right and the flare around it are unfortunately very distracting. Not much one could do about it, I realize.

Unfortunately, at a 14mm focal length, there isn't anything I could do to try to reduce the glare, sticking my hand in a position to try to block the light = having my hand in the shot. I toned it down a bit in PP, but pushing too hard results in an image that looks strange, so this is the trade-off I tried.

One of the reasons I posted this image was to get comments on that part of the shot.

[Manfred M]

There is no known ‘safe’ level of exposure to asbestos fibres, if ingested into the lungs where they can develop into tumours which can take up to 40 years to become malignant. The fibres are microscopic and so cleansing and eradication of affected areas including disposal is difficult, time consuming and expensive. Proving the areas and air to be “cleansed” requires air sampling after removal operations for a period of time, and we are talking considerations of “parts per million”.

It matters not if it has been processed or combined with other binders. In fact until the binders are damaged/worked on or broken, asbestos encapsulated in such materials is likely to be “safer” than freshly mined material where loose fibres may be released as the encapsulating natural mineral material is broken.

Certainly not a place I would rush to capture photos at.

Correct so far as the dangers of asbestos go, but as a museum, the area was well cleaned up and I suspect, given the look of the cladding material on the headstock, I suspect it was removed and replaced. I seem to recall having seen some air quality monitoring equipment.

Having been involved in a project that required asbestos removal from an industrial building, I'm aware of the process and precautions involved.





The wheels are at the very top of the building on the left; above the top windows. The building on the right houses the passenger elevator shaft for the visitors.

[george013]

I think it was somewhere in the 80s that asbestos was forbidden in Holland. Strange enough first only the scrapping of it, it was still sold. Mostly for the car industry where it was used in the friction material. Analyses of the air in a tunnel showed a concentration of asbestos being a multiple of what was tolerated.

About the image. There's something I can't explain: the more prominent perspective distortion in the right wheel and the absence of it in the left wheel.

George

[shreds]

About the image. There's something I can't explain: the more prominent perspective distortion in the right wheel and the absence of it in the left wheel.
George

Such distortions are not unusual with a 14mm lens. It can create some strange effects. I will leave the more erudite members to explain the science behind why. Nevertheless, I use such a lens regularly due to the need to record wide perspectives in very limited spaces and have to be aware of such tolerances and distortions with such lenses. A lot depends upon your positioning to the subject.

[george013]

Such distortions are not unusual with a 14mm lens. It can create some strange effects. I will leave the more erudite members to explain the science behind why. Nevertheless, I use such a lens regularly due to the need to record wide perspectives in very limited spaces and have to be aware of such tolerances and distortions with such lenses. A lot depends upon your positioning to the subject.

It's not the distortion itself but the difference in distortion. The left one looks closer to me as the right one so that distortion would have been there more prominent. Maybe I'm fooled for the wheels are not in one line.

George

[shreds]

More to do with which parts of the image fall towards the edges of the frame /lens as more distortion is likely to occur there. It is possible to take a couple of shots of the same subject, carefully positioning the camera and lens at a height and angle from a subject to either accentuate or reduce the distortion effects in the final shot.

Of course you could use a tilt/shift lens or use post processing to correct such issues.

[Manfred M]

I quite agree with your comments Ian. As rectilinear ultra-wide angle lenses go the Nikkor f/2.8 14 - 24mm lens is remarkably good in the corners and has very well controlled distortion. My 40 year old Leica Elmarit-R f/2.8 19mm created some really funky looking effects in the corners that could be quite interesting but not always appreciated... Ultra-wide angle lenses are tricky beasts to shoot with.

You are quite correct about the camera angle and positioning; they definitely do affect the look and feel of the distortion. I was a bit limited to how I could shoot and this was definitely the best of the shots that way. I was on very narrow maintenance catwalk and being a guard rail, so shooting angles / opportunities were rather limited.

The problem with shift-tilt lenses is that they are both expensive and are not quite as wide as 14mm (Nikon makes a 19mm and Canon a 17mm). I have the Nikkor f/3.5 24mm TS-E and I use it a fair bit for architectural work. I would be hard pressed to justify spending the money on the 19mm TS-E Nikkor; it sells for $CAD 4500.00. I did not have the 24mm TS-E along with me on this trip either.