The Shaker Lakes Regional Nature Center has a photography club and last week Judith K. McMillan presented a (her first) power point presentation outlining her evolution from teacher to photography experimenter par excellence.   Ms. McMillan has a voracious curiosity - producing mosaic photo images of a tire dump in Maine to stark black and white photos of bird nests in the CMNHIstory archives.  

Her most unusual and unique work has been done with the x-ray equipment at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  I was intrigued by the diaphanous, ballerina-like results of x-ray energy through flowers, leaves and seeds. 

Photography of every form (infrared, laser scanner, natural light) except x-ray relies on REFLECTED energy from the object.  With x-ray photography the photo is determined by just the reverse - the negative is activated by the energy which PASSES THROUGH the object being photographed. 

During the Q&A after Ms. McMillan’s hour long presentation,  one of the fellows in the audience spoke up, said he was a dentist, and asked how Ms McMillan protected herself while taking the x-ray photos. 

Ms. McMillan replied “I shut the door” (of the x-ray machine). 

The dentist inquired further “Do you wear a lead apron? Leave the room?  Do you wear a radiation exposure badge?”. 

“No, I shut the door.”

So when I left the lecture I wasn’t going to go find an x-ray machine, but I did go home and study how  to produce infrared photos with digital cameras. 

If you are interested in recording what is around you - keep your eye out for Ms. McMillan's next presentation.  You'll come away with some new ideas...