megalithic.city

finally, the beginning of the beginning. now for the experiments in 5x7 large format photography with my diy hybrid lens/pinhole sliding box camera utilising a 180mm 4.5f enlarger lens with ground glass screen for focusing and manual shutter and f stops. this allows the lens to be stopped down for those panoramic landscape shots. it take a standard 5x7 double sided dark slide initially using paper negs -so long exposures required. bodmin moor the first stop. watch this space… #blackbox, #slidingboxcamera, #hybridphotography, #diycamera, #landscapephotography, #blackandwhitephotography, #themindseye, #montagecity, @henry.seaton, https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj5rNhILk-0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

walking the rosewall. #rosewallshill, #ancientstones, #stives, #ancientlandscape, #westpenwith, #walking, https://www.instagram.com/p/CkAKbjCI6h7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

reimagining connections across a neolithic landscape. bodminmoor. #montagecity, #neolithiclandscape, https://www.instagram.com/p/CkBUXAnIfL5/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

out and about on bodmin moor. circles, halls, loganstones, hills and tors. sketch montage. https://www.instagram.com/p/CkBLnFiI78y/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

higher bussow farm. ramped steps and attendant standing stone. #ancient, #modern, #artspace, #rampedsteps, #stives, #penwith, #hiddengems, #belgravestives, #standingstone, https://instagr.am/p/CcqElzYKpp4/

two sides of the same story. the most easterly and largest stone in an array of 5 holed stones on truthwall common, tregeseal on the sloping ground below carn kenidjack. the projected shadows of which might function as markers for the approaching seasons. the holes are low down on the stones such that they would only appear in the projected shadow at low sun elevations ie at sunrise and sunset. in addition the holes have been fashioned in such a way that the ‘focus’ of the sun’s rays falls between the two surfaces of each stone; the holes tapering down from a larger diameter at the stone’s surface toward a smaller one at the stone’s centre and then out again forming a ‘lens’ so that the hole can be projected sharply onto the surface of the ground. is it possible that this might be used as a sun dial fixing the time of the solstices for example? as the position of the rising and setting sun moves with the changing seasons and the holes in each stone appear and disappear the approach of the seasons might be plotted? #sundial, #holedstone, #shadow, #projection, #solstice, #seasons, #ancientwisdom, #ancientastronomy, https://instagr.am/p/CcMbkaxKQTt/

stone deaf and colour blind. stones at phillack beach hayle. #snapshot https://instagr.am/p/CcENHbKKLVi/

avebury as built. #prehistoric, history starts about 1200BC. human activity about 2.5 million year ago. human knowledge has much more to offer if only we had an astronomer’s telescope that can look back into that past. https://instagr.am/p/Cbty00zqDd7/

wrapping up. #earth, #wrap, #earhwork, #landart, https://instagr.am/p/CaMhpKBLwYQ/

negative-positive. #juxtaposition, #opposites, #contrastingforms, #balance, #imbalance, #foundform, https://instagr.am/p/CZytnm1LnJv/

trees over rocks. sunday walk steeple woods. mine workings. #tin, #cornishmining, #cornishmines, #treesoverrocks, #treesandrocks, #tinmine, #westpenwith, #mineworking, #steeplewoods, https://instagr.am/p/CYzthPFIQHQ/

the ‘eye of time’ sculpture. university of leicester. designed by allan mills. it is an analemma calendar that uses a small aperture to shine a spot of sunlight that marks out a figure of eight along which the date throughout the year can be marked. (photo taken at 11:49 GMT on 05-12-2009). the university believes the design to be unique, although it is one that most closely resembles the ‘sunstone’ on zennor hill which could be prehistoric in origin. it also projects the rays of the sun across its main surface which is inclined slightly off the vertical and set north-south. In astronomy, an analemma is a diagram showing the position of the sun in the sky, as seen from a fixed location on earth at the same mean solar time, as that position varies over the course of a year. the analemma has been projected onto the floors of buildings using a small oculus set in its south facing wall. the axis it traces is also oriented north-south. it is typically used to calculate the timing of the equinoxes and the solstices. https://instagr.am/p/CYujkzVIPkW/

solar noon dial. measures not the hourly cycle of the sun but its cycle across the seasons. the reading is taken at the sun’s zenith at noon, along a single meridian line, oriented north/south. it is intended for the accurate determination of the equinoxes and solstices. traditionally It has a nodus rather than a full gnomon, and may be in the form of a small ball on the end of a shaft or, more usually, a small circular aperture projecting a image of the sun onto the floor of the building. very long meridian lines were built into cathedrals. the basilica di danta maria degli angeli e dei martiri in rome has such a line. see last two photos zennor hill sunstone seems to fit this description. this is an upturned, stone solutions basin positioned some 5* short of the vertical, with the basin’s surface oriented north to south. a small hole and notch in the basin’s rim projects the sun’s rays across its surface each day at the solar noon, so that it’s changing angle can reflect the changing seasons. a careful noting of its position would reveal the timing of the yearly solstices and equinoxes in much the same way as a solar noon dial. photo dated june 21 11.27 2014 https://instagr.am/p/CYelDfmoMPr/

#sunstone, #zennorhill, a #standingstone, a upturned #solutionsbasin, whose face is oriented north south such that a small ocular hole projects the rays of the sun across its surface at noon each day. #sundial, #sunray, #noondaysun, #sunprotection, #gnomon, https://instagr.am/p/CYUhr0iLfUv/

steeple woods, stives. fallen trees. #ancient woods, #trees, #fallentrees, #treesonstone, #liftedstones, #moss, #treemoss, #treetrunks, #treefungus, https://instagr.am/p/CYRJjdJIDKb/

the stone covered slopes of steeple woods are home to hazel, beech and ash trees. this uprooted hazel is a feature of the wood. the low, surface root structure unable to resist high winds. some of the granite stones can be seen to lifted up in the root ball. #steeplewoods, #woodonstone, #rootsover stone, #treesoverstone, #upturnedtrees, #ancientwoods, #stives, #trees, #treetrunks, #treeroots, https://instagr.am/p/CYOXkkUraTe/