The Young Researcher • @1MEMO_20260804 • Michel van der Burg • Miracles•Media
. TakeNode e15047da-3588-47a0-aa0d-34d030b41c8c • Spider’s mouth – photo via microscope in 1967 – I was very surprised that year to discover that this spider’s ‘jaws’ moved horizontally – not ‘up and down’ like in all the other larger animals that I was familiar with – when I first saw this through the microscope , fresh – immediately after taking this from the just killed spider – taking care to keep it in the same orientation. For the naked eye however this was to small to really see (a small dutch ‘house spider’) – so preparing this was done rather blind in a way.

I was 15 at the time , and had experimented with microscopy since I was 11 or 12 years old. I also had started photography around that age. That year of 1967 I started taking photos through the microscope.

With the simple (mirror-less) camera and microscope that I had – the camera was put on a tripod above the microscope , with a dark cloth around it all in a bedroom with the curtains closed , at night.
That Voigtländer Vito camera had no light meter , no rangefinder ,a fixed lens and a viewfinder.
So , for preparing each new image with the microscope the camera had to be removed. When ready under the microscope , the camera was repositioned above , and because the alignment of camera and microscope is very critical (any deviation results in images like a portion cut from a round cake) .. the filmroll was rolled back in the cassette , the camera opened and by holding a piece of a semi-transparant plastic (from a plastic bag) inside the camera to catch the image projected from the microscope ….. the camera was realigned , the image focussed … and next the camera closed again , and the film roll was advanced …counting the number of already used film frames.

At 15 I also had started film developing, printing, black & white darkroom work ;)

See also the short ‘action’ film :
Bio 1966 Photography | 20230706 | Michel van der Burg | Miracles•Media URL https://1-memo.com/2023/07/06/bio-1966-photography-20230706/

#researcher #child #biology #photography #microphotography #darkroom #science #jaw #spider