The closer we look – the more we see Such is the case with this new rock I have added to my gallery called Tiger Iron I have seen some macro shots of Tiger Iron in various places, and started keeping my eye out for some. . Tiger Iron is somewhat of a mixture rock – combining tiger eye, red jasper, and black hematite. Under diffuse lighting, it really doesn’t look like much. . . Rather black and bland with a few stripes visible. . But stick it under some good light and cross-polarized flashes, and the layers come alive. . I ended up getting a nice slab of it (about 4×4 inches) that is already polished, and boy is it a doosy of patterns and colors. . . In real close, or backing up a bit, the possibilities seem endless in this single slab.
It is hard not to get lost in these for quite some time. . They are the type of images that take awhile to soak in, and usually reveal something new with every glance. One characteristic that probably doesn’t come through well enough is that those gold chatoyant bands actually reflect light like metallic gold Very difficult to portray in an image.
You have to wonder how many millions of years those layers represent Imagine what the world was like back when each of those cells and layers were forming A single rock can not only hold possibly a thousand photographs, but a thousand stories of the Earth’s history as well.
Hey, very interesting post.
My written English is not so good so I write in German:
“Lieber den Spatz in der Hand, als die Taube auf dem Dach.”
Yours sincerely
Eisen
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Great images Mark, you have really developed a great eye for seeing the abstract shapes in stones and rocks.
Thanks folks, I appreciate the comments.
jball – think of it as iridescence. Petra, I thought much the same thing.
wow, what incredible colors and patterns Mark. My grandfather used to cut then polish stones, I can see where it would be easy to get lost in photographing them.. amazing look at another world we seldom see.
Lovely shots. What an interesting substance!
Speaking of rock & time, when I lived in Canada I often stood at the base of the Niagara Gorge (up past the whirlpool, where it gets pretty high.) I’d look up at all of those rock layers above me, all the way up to the top, & I’d think about how long it’d take water to carve that. It always made me feel very, VERY small & insignificant. It also made me appreciate all the more this little flash in the pan called “my life.”
Hi Mark – these are breathtaking! And they remind me somehow of photos I have seen from electronic microscopy with cuts in the nano section.
Amazing how much light can influence the view and vision. Everything seems to be related to one another…
Yep, I could strare for hours at rocks like this. I must admit not knowing what ‘chatoyant’ means, but it sounds great! Excellent photos.
Hi, Mark –
Beautiful images, as always – I’ll be spending some time looking at these! I bet they make gorgeous large prints.
I understand your comment about the rock’s history completely! There are spots in our region where the exposed bedrock is around 2 billion years old. Sometimes I’ll just touch that and try to imagine all the changes that rock has seen. Awe-inspiring.
– Jack
I have visited your blog numerous times; each time admiring your work. I decided it was way past time to leave a comment of admiration and appreciation.
Your rock images are unlike any I’ve ever seen. Love them!
These are lovely. I’m going to save the post and take another look when I’m near the larger monitor.