Tag: numismatic photography

Ancient Greek Coin, Head of Alexander II Zebina

A macro photograph of a 123 BC Greek coin by Alexander II Zebina captures its historical significance and texture. The artist avoids over-sharpening, choosing selective focus to highlight the coin’s surface. This work raises questions about ownership, memory, and our connection to time, ultimately transforming the coin into a philosophical exploration of history.

Close-up of a worn ancient Greek coin showing a raised portrait, resting on coarse black granular material.
A macro photograph of an ancient Greek coin with a portrait relief placed on a dark textured surface.

In this macro study from Chapter 6 of his Top 100 Journey, the photographer confronts an artifact that predates the medium of photography by over two millennia. The coin—a bronze piece from 123 BC bearing the portrait of Alexander II Zebina—becomes both subject and collaborator, its weathered surface telling stories that extend far beyond the frame. This single exposure, created for the 52 Frames challenge, demonstrates a mature understanding of how light and composition can resurrect history from oxidized metal.

The technical execution reveals deliberate restraint. Rather than employ focus stacking to render every millimeter sharp, he opts for a single capture that honors the coin’s irregular topography through selective focus. The shallow depth of field becomes a curatorial choice: not everything from antiquity needs to be preserved with clinical precision. Some details fade into soft ambiguity, much as memory itself blurs across centuries. The side lighting—achieved through what appears to be a carefully positioned single source—rakes across the relief, transforming corrosion patterns into a luminous bronze landscape. Highlights catch on the highest points of wear, creating a constellation of golden moments against near-black valleys of shadow.

The substrate selection proves equally thoughtful. Black granular material, possibly sand or volcanic rock, provides textural contrast while introducing delicate bokeh spheres that float in the background like suspended time. This environmental choice feels archaeological, suggesting the coin might have just emerged from excavation rather than from a flea market display case. The photographer resists any impulse toward nostalgic sepia or artificial aging effects; instead, he allows the genuine patina—two thousand years in the making—to provide all the historical gravitas the image requires.

What distinguishes this work within Chapter 6’s framework of ongoing exploration is its meditation on ownership and stewardship. The accompanying note reveals this coin represents “the oldest man-made thing I have ever owned,” yet the photograph itself seems to question that possessive relationship. Can anyone truly own such an object, or are we merely temporary custodians in an impossibly long chain of hands? The macro perspective literalizes this contemplation, bringing the viewer so close that individual crystals of corrosion become visible, each one a marker of time the photographer will never witness.

The portrait of Alexander II Zebina—barely discernible beneath centuries of oxidation—emerges as a ghost in metal, features obscured yet undeniably present. This parallel between photographic and numismatic portraiture feels intentional. Both mediums attempt to freeze time, to preserve likeness against entropy’s relentless work. The photograph succeeds where the coin has partially failed, capturing not just the object but the precise quality of light falling upon it on a specific day in 2025, creating a new historical layer atop the ancient one.

Within the photographer’s evolving practice, this image represents a turn toward material intimacy and temporal reflection. The macro lens becomes a tool for philosophical inquiry rather than mere magnification. By isolating this small artifact against darkness and bringing such focused attention to its corrupted beauty, he creates space for viewers to contemplate their own relationship with history, permanence, and the objects that outlive their makers by millennia.

Morgan Silver Dollars: Texture, Time, and Monochromatic Study

The photographed still life of overlapping late nineteenth-century Morgan silver dollars showcases a detailed exploration of numismatic design through macro photography. The monochromatic treatment emphasizes surface textures and historical nuances while controlled lighting enhances the sculptural qualities. This work merges traditional still life methodologies with contemporary techniques, documenting valuable artifacts within a modern context.

Close-up photograph of overlapping Morgan silver dollar coins showing worn engraved profiles and inscriptions.
A close-up still life of overlapping Morgan silver dollar coins from the late nineteenth century.

This monochromatic study of late nineteenth-century Morgan Silver Dollars represents the photographer’s deliberate expansion into controlled still life work, demonstrating how historical objects can serve as compelling subjects for formal exploration. The composition arranges multiple coins in overlapping layers, creating a topographical landscape of circular forms that invites close examination of surface detail, wear patterns, and the inherent sculptural qualities of numismatic design.

The technical approach centers on macro photography, executed with a Meike 85mm f/2.8 lens paired with his Sony A7ii system. This focal length and aperture combination allows for selective focus that emphasizes the central Morgan Dollar while surrounding coins recede into varying degrees of sharpness. The viewer’s eye naturally gravitates to the prominently featured coin displaying Liberty’s profile, her flowing hair rendered in remarkable relief detail. The inscription “E PLURIBUS UNUM” curves along the upper edge, each letter capturing light differently based on the coin’s worn topography—evidence of decades in circulation.

His conversion to black and white through Nik Silver Efex Pro proves particularly astute for this subject matter. The monochromatic treatment unifies the silver surfaces while accentuating tonal variations that reveal the coins’ individual histories. Scratches, patina, and areas of polish loss become visual information rather than mere damage. The grayscale palette also reinforces the historical nature of these artifacts, creating an aesthetic continuity between the coins’ era of origin and the contemporary photograph documenting them.

The lighting strategy deserves attention for its subtlety. Diffuse illumination reveals the bas-relief portraits and decorative elements without creating harsh specular highlights that might obscure detail or introduce unwanted contrast. Shadows between stacked coins provide dimensional information, suggesting weight and materiality. The photographer has avoided the common pitfall of overworking metallic surfaces, instead allowing the silver to speak through its natural reflective properties and acquired character.

Within Chapter 5’s framework examining still life photography from classic to experimental approaches, this work anchors itself firmly in traditional methodology. The arrangement recalls centuries of vanitas imagery where objects of commerce and temporal value serve as subjects for formal study. Yet the execution benefits from modern digital capture capabilities—the macro lens resolving minute surface textures that would challenge film-based systems, and post-processing software offering precise tonal control.

The choice to work with borrowed objects introduces an interesting collaborative element to his expanding still life practice. These coins carry not only their original historical context but also the contemporary narrative of a colleague’s collection—objects held, preserved, and valued by someone within his immediate circle. This transforms the exercise from pure technical study into a form of visual preservation, documenting specific artifacts at a particular moment in their continuing existence.

As an entry point into product and still life photography practiced within the domestic studio environment, this image succeeds in demonstrating foundational skills: controlled lighting, thoughtful composition, appropriate lens selection, and sensitive post-processing. The Morgan Dollars provide subject matter rich enough to reward close attention while remaining accessible—a practical choice for developing technical proficiency that yields aesthetically resolved results worthy of inclusion in his curated collection.