Stone portals are all that remain of this particular building from the Lock Ridge Iron Furnace in Alburtis, PA. The Furnace opened in 1868 during the peak of the anthracite iron industry and operated until shortly after World War One. Since 1970, the 59 acre site has operated as a community park while the original blast furnace # 7 now houses Lock Ridge Furnace Museum which is open on a limited basis during the Spring through Fall months. Ruins from blast furnace # 8 still stand on the site and areas of stone masonry throughout the area offer good opportunities for photography. The site is one of the most photographically cliche sites in Berks County with every photographer around coming here to shoot senior photos, wedding photos, Model Mayhem photo shoots, family portraits, etc.

Camera: Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail view camera.

Lens: Rodenstock Geronar 150mm F6.3 lens in a Copal 0 shutter. Yellow filter on the lens to improve contrast.

Film: Ilford HP5+ 400 ISO Negative Film, shot at 200 ISO.

Exposure: 20 second exposure @ F45 based upon an original reading of 8 seconds and compensated for reciprocity and filter factor.

Development: Self Developed in Kodak Xtol 1+2 dilution in Paterson Universal Tank using the Taco Method. 13 minutes @ 20 degrees Celsius. Tap water stop bath. Ilford Rapid Fixer. Photo-Flo rinse.

Scanning: Negative scanned with Epson V600 in two scans and merged back together in PhotoShop since the V600 doesn't natively support 4x5 scans in one pass.