Scriptor

(Top) Burned area as seen on the day of the injury; (Center) A fluorescence study on the following day suggests that the burns on the buttocks and the upper right thigh are second degree, and lower right thigh, third degree. This photograph was made with the Polaroid SX-70 outfit; (Bottom) Photograph made on post day 28 shows that the fluorescence test was accurate since only the lower right thigh required grafting.

From: “Fluorescein Fluorescence Photography for the Evaluation of Burn Injury” by Alan J. Zuckerman

What a joy it was to review Vol. 51, #2 of the Journal. From four papers in issue #1 to seven papers in this one.

The first paper “Fluorescein Fluorescence Photography for the Evaluation of Burn Injury” by Alan J. Zuckerman illustrates the dramatic effect fluorescein photography can produce to demonstrate the healing process after severe burn injuries. I did have difficulty in seeing the chartreuse and lime green color, but I am sure they were observable on the original print. Apart from the Polaroid (simply personal opinion) the apparatus used was neat and compact, and obviously produced satisfactory results.

“The Last White on Bluers” by Scott Kilbourne. How many of us were happy to read this paper. The Diazo slide when it first appeared seem to take slide making by storm, and every presentation would be loaded with them, but it wasn’t long before their drawbacks became obvious. Diazos were taken over to some extent by other methods such as colored tape and paints on Kodalith negative film. Scott Kilbourne came up with a very ingenious method of producing a variety of colored slides with the minimum amount of effort.

“The Fibre Optic Insert” by William H. deVeer, followed closely on the heels of the previous paper. Ektachrome 160 was a perfect choice of film. I believe it was introduced by Kodak for photomicroscopy.

Following this paper was yet another approach for multi colored slides “Fiber Optic Flasher for Multi- color Slide Exposure” by Robert Karraker and Scott Kilbourne certainly started people thinking! This is another clever idea, which obviously worked.

Finally on this particular area of slide production come an excellent paper “Annular Fog Extension Tube – A Device For Producing Optically Colored Title Slides” by Anthony N. Benson and Thomas B. Hurtgen. This is an extremely well written paper and easy to understand. There are excellent illustrations, and what I appreciated was the discussion of major and minor criteria, particularly that of maintaining the integrity of the equipment.

With all of these papers it would have been nice to see examples of the final product. How we must have hated those Diazos!!!

Finally “Starting up a Photo Facility” by Phyllis Middlebrooks, was an absolute delight! I was very pleased that the “art work” was left as presented. Most of us have experienced the same trauma of setting up a new facility.

Perhaps I am too much a traditionalist, but I feel that the digital age is robbing us of the thoughtful inventive professionals of the past. It was fun for them and invaluable to us.

Scriptor

Author

With the passing of Peter Hansell, Ron Irvine picks up the pen to continue "25 Years ago in the Journal of Biological Photography" and writes under the pseudonym Scriptor. Irvine is a long-time member of BCA and IMI. He is a Registered Biological Photographer, Fellow of the BCA, and an honorary member of IMI. His e-mail address is irviron@gmail.com