True Antiquity

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It's not often you get to focus on a manmade object that is some 14000 years old. This is a carved antler artifact from late Palaeolithic times which I had the privilege of actually touching at a touch-and-tell exhibit at the British Museum in December, 2006. It i's humbling to think that human hands shaped this piece of organic material and carved in the decoration long before the world as we know it began to take form. The photograph was taken in available light on macrofocus setting, and was simply a case of framing the composition and releasing the shutter: photographically it was a no-brainer, but to see the object is to feel the gulf of time between the maker and the beholder, and it demanded to be recorded. Sharpened and colour-enhanced for publication; Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic exposure, macro range. Image by Mike.

Steel Gossamer

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It's truly amazing when the new and the old blend in a new synthesis for the new century. This is the inner courtyard of the British Museum in London, a 19th century structure, but which now contains the 'reading room,' almost a euphemism as it is a towering oval structure whose design seems to be an homage to the Library of Congress in Washington. The space between has been domed over with an incredible geodesic lattice of steel and glass, and the stonework of the old buildings has been cleaned to reflect the polished marble of the new. Set Roman, Egyptian and Sumerian relics against this backdrop and you have a very strong statement about social and political power bound up with custodianship of some of the most famous of antiquities. December 2006, Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic exposure. Image by Mike.