Fine art Radiography

Home | About Me | Galleries | Sales | Contact


From a young age, I have had a keen interest in Electronics, and by the time I was 17, I had cobbled together my first X-ray machine in my Mothers kitchen. This was in late October 1995, almost 100 years to the day since Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays (Nov 8th 1895).
The apparatus comprised of a Tesla-Coil, to generate 60,000 volts or so, one end of which was connected to the base pins an old radio valve. The glass envelope was wrapped with a tin-foil strip which was connected to the other end of the coil. During operation the inside of the glass was bathed in a pale fluorescence, as the high voltage stripped electrons off of the metal parts in the tube, and accelerated them towards the glass envelope.
I had tested this apparatus with a cold-war Dosimeter, and it was found indeed to be emitting a considerable amount of radiation in all directions.

My Granddad has always been a keen photographer, and by photographer, I mean someone who develops their own prints. So, I asked him to show me how to develop black & white film, so I could try and make an image with my machine. He showed me how to process film, and even gave me 5x4inch film, and the developing chemicals.

I made a small cardboard film holder to hold a single sheet of film, and, lacking a darkroom loaded it at night under the duvet.
The film holder was placed under the tube, and some random objects placed on top, I switched it on for a while, and when I thought it had been exposed enough, switched it off, and took the film holder to my room to be developed under the duvet again.
The resulting radiograph, was very pale and washed out, but it was indeed a radiograph!
I managed to do a few more exposures, including a good one of my fingers, but the exposure times were high, as long as 30 minutes, and eventually the glass of the radio valve cracked from heat. I never did find another one that emitted so much radiation, and this brief hobby was over.

Some years later, my interest was re-kindled by an article I had read on the internet, about a man who had used polaroid film to take radiographs. I lashed together a tesla coil in the garage and proceeded to test some more radio valves, and managed to produce a somewhat blurred radiograph from this setup. Whilst experimenting with this setup, I managed to purchase a small dental x-ray tube. I built a power-supply for it, and lead shielding, and made an exposure using polaroid. The developed image was very dark, but the sharpness and detail from using a proper tube was astounding. A little tweaking later, I had a usable x-ray machine, some of the first polaroid images are presented below.

shell phone shell
bat x-ray watch x-ray

 

It is interesting to note the colours in the photographs, these are related to the time of the exposure and I find them very pleasing to look at, as compared with black and white. I am now taking radiographs using large format photographic paper, and have developed novel and innovative techniques, to create these images.

I never tire of the hidden beauty that surrounds us. Many pieces of Art in the world, are things that are seen with the eye, and are perceived to be beautiful.
 
Using X-rays, even the mundane becomes interesting, and the ugly becomes beautiful. Everywhere I look and wonder what things would look like when radiographed I am always pleasantly surprised when I do.

If you are interested in any of my other scientific interests, I have a hobbies page,
that is seperate from this main site, which may be viewed
HERE


Home | About Me | Galleries | Sales | Contact
All images copyright 2006-2010, © Leslie Wright