Withstanding the Challenge

This piece was inspired by the old Chinese saying "pure gold can withstand fire", literally speaking, which is a metaphor for truth withstanding the test.

The beauty of photography is that inspiration can come from anything.

Photography

I placed black charcoal on a tin tray while waiting for some of the coals to burn red in the stove. Then I clamped them into the tray and placed the gold bracelets in position.

To keep the red coals burning, I used a small electric fan and blew air onto them.

I opened the windows and doors to ensure air circulation in the studio and avoid accumulating too much carbon monoxide.

With the tripod propped up on the pallet and the lens facing down, I could still feel the heat from the red charcoal, even though it was a 90mm lens.

The hardest part, however, was getting the proper exposure for the burning red charcoal, the shiny chain, and the dull black charcoal.

“True gold fears no fire.”

Shooting with film and without preview, I chose to bracket the exposure: subtracting two stops for the dull black charcoal, exposing the red charcoal normally, and adding one stop for the shiny chain.

In the end, I found that these exposure techniques were quite accurate.

Through this work, I learned about exposure techniques and, of course, the contrast between light and shadow. In any case, the whole shooting process, from preparation to result, was a lot of fun.

Isn't photography joyful?