PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL:
This link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_HQq1FkPvo) is to part 2 of a series of films of Vietnamese silk making. It includes machines in action that clearly are cousins to the ones in the Klotz mill. Part 1 of the series follows silk making from silk worm to the tedious and skilled task of unwinding the caccoon the silkworms have spun and separating the individual fibers to be spun into thread and yarn. Parts 3 and 4 show weaving and dying of yarns and fabrics.
This link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_HQq1FkPvo) is to part 2 of a series of films of Vietnamese silk making. It includes machines in action that clearly are cousins to the ones in the Klotz mill. Part 1 of the series follows silk making from silk worm to the tedious and skilled task of unwinding the caccoon the silkworms have spun and separating the individual fibers to be spun into thread and yarn. Parts 3 and 4 show weaving and dying of yarns and fabrics.
As I explained in an earlier post, I had begun the silk mill shoot with a walk-through of what I thought was the whole factory, and I paced my time to get back to all areas of special interest. Three of my four hours were over when I was shocked to discover a stair at the back of the second floor that I had missed in my walk-through. It led past a spooky, rusted bathroom with too little light for me to shoot unless I wanted to spend my time on five minute exposures of uncertain outcome, and down to another vast mill room full of machines that once twitched and shuffled and turned to their own special beat. I went with the flow.
