'I use available light – any light that's available'

Gene Smith, photographer

'The use of solar energy has not been developed because the oil industry does not own the sun!'

Ralph Nader, environmentalist

'To save time later I've test fired all your flashbulbs – they all worked perfectly!'

Traditional

Blacklight

In today's terminology, a 'black light' is a lamp that emits 'invisible' ultra-violet wavelengths that may be employed in medicine (as an anti-microbial steriliser) or to attract insects (the common 'bug zapper' found in commercial kitchens), as well as other uses.

Yet in the 1950s a black light meant something different; it related to photography at the other end of the spectrum: infra-red. Specialised flashbulbs were heavily coated with dyed gelatine to filter out the visible part of the spectrum, so that they would emit only infra-red – they were black to the eye and known as black lights. They have also inspired the name for this website.

This site is not, however, devoted only to photography, flash or otherwise, but is more intended as a growing receptable for records of personal projects or notes on disparate topics – a sort of blog without any regular update. The first of these concerns a solar pv home installation – follow the link at the top left to learn more.