2009-06-24

pithead, sky,

Pithead in blue

The other shots of pitheads in this blog have been of closed pits and that is pretty typical on both the French and German sides of the border. But the wheel of the pithead frame in the photo was turning as I took this shot. In Petite Rosselle, men are still risking their lungs and their lives to maintain our energy hungry civilisation.

12 comments:

  1. The evil behind it is greed... and therefore we will never solve our problems in the world. Good Morning!

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  2. Be honest, you come secretly to Silesia and took this photo!!!!! This is a view which I've known for all my life! The only differenc is that at the moment the whether is much better there than here:)

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  3. In my fevered imagination I believe that the pit-head is sucking in great gulps of that beautiful air to compensate for what the miners are enduring beneath.

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  4. Gracias por visitar mi blog, es increible que con un telefono sagan tn buenas imagenes.
    felicidades

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  5. Coal mining is probably one of the hardest jobs on earth. Kudos to these guys!

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  6. Another great angle on this shot. Looks like there are stairs on the pithead. It must be very tall too.

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  7. You got down on your knees, didn't you - to get this perspective? ;-) I also like the framing with everything in the lower right corner.

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  8. Thanks for all the comments.

    Shaun: Greed in sending men down pits, or greed in closing the pits and killing the town?

    joo: The similarities go deep. In school, I had no clear idea where Silesia and Saarland were but I knew they were both coal-mining areas that changed hands regularly in post-war treaties.

    Julie: I hope these guys are getting some fresh air, too. I wonder how conditions have improved over the years.

    Antoni Illa: Gracias por tu visita aquí. Me encantan las fotos en el blog tuyo.

    Buenos Aires Photoblog: I keep meaning to find a way visit the mines underground. Then I might have more of an appreciation for the conditions down there.


    Denise Jelonek: it was very imposing -- and very blue. I just had to take a shot.

    Martina: I do not remember going down on my knees. I only usually go to such extremes for fungus.

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  9. Prancha de saltos (jumps board) where is the pool?

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  10. Caçador: I did not see any pool. Maybe, it is just for bungee jumping.

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  11. All those pitheads from my childhood spirited away and though we hated the hard work and brute conditions they represented we feel sad they've all gone.

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  12. Hyde DP: The last straw came here with some major subsidence. Then people asked why they were paying taxes to subsidise miners to cause church spires to fall on their heads and destroy the value of their homes.

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