From Joe’s Movie Club: It’s April Fools Day and the first thing that pops into my mind is one of my favorite film comedies, The April Fools. This is not a great movie but remains one of my “guilty pleasures because it’s one of Catherine Deneuve’s few American film and she is luminescent in it. Then I get to thinking about, for some reason, Fool’s Gold, which reminds me of the time I went deep inside a real gold mine, which, in turn brings me to today’s featured image…
Today’s Post by Joe Farace
A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.—William Shakespeare
April Fools’ Day is celebrated in many countries on April 1’st every year. On this day, practical jokes (or April Fools) are played on friends and family In some countries, April Fools only last until noon, and if someone plays a joke after that, they are an April Fool. In some areas of France, New Year’s was a week-long holiday ending on April 1. Some people think that April Fools’ started because those who celebrated on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates.
In The Gold Mine
The mineral or iron pyrite, also known as fool’s gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula FeS2. Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite’s metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue give it a superficial resemblance to gold, hence the well-known nickname of fool’s gold.
How this photo was made: I posed for my friend Don for today’s April Fool’s Day post featuring an image of me deep inside a real gold mine in Oatman, Arizona. This is a town with a rich history that’s rooted in gold mining, thrived as a booming mining town in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with notable mines like the Gold Road, Tom Reed, and United Eastern. (I don’t t remember what mine this was but it was a chilly place to be even though it was mid-summer on the surface, hence the sweatshirt.)
Don used my camera at the time, a Canon EOS 20D with an EF 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens (at 24mm) that, for the life of me, I don’t remember owning. Maybe I borrowed it. This was a totally available light exposure of 1/8 sec—no IBIS or IS lens, so Don had a steady hand—at f/3.5 and ISO 1600.
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Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography with new, used and Kindle copies are available from Amazon.