Monthly Archives: June 2021

photography, Tips and Technique

Night Photo—Secret Revealed!

I made these images the other night when Kris & I were photographing the St Lawrence & Atlantic’s westward road freight (train 393).

Night photography isn’t easy, or straight forward.

There’s a variety of approaches.

These images were exposed during the last hints of daylight.

To capture the train in motion in very low light I used a ‘secret combination’: a telephoto with a wide maximum aperture and a high ISO setting on the camera.

The telephoto minimizes the relative movement of the train to the camera sensor; the wide aperture lets in greater amounts of light and thus allows for a faster shutter speed. Likewise, the higher ISO also contributes to using a faster shutter speed.

However, the real secret was exposing manually, taking into account of the very bright headlights relative to the over all scene, while taking a position relatively off axis to the headlights to avoid the very bright lights directly hitting the front element of the lens.

FujiFilm XT1 with f2.0 90mm lens, camera set to ISO 3200 and 1/60th of a second.

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Semaphore Silhouette-Ely, Vermont.

We paused last winter at Ely, Vermont where I made this silhouette on Ektachrome of the old Boston & Maine station and its historic train order semaphore.

This was one of several slides I made that day of railroads in Vermont.

Why film? Because it works. Because some photos made on film wouldn’t as well if exposed digitally. But most importantly, because I like film. I made my first Ektachrome color slide c1971, and some 50 years later, I still occasional expose slides.

Canon EOS-3 loaded with Kodak E100; 40mm Canon pancake lens set at f22. Film processed by AgX lab. Slide scanned using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner.

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Long Days on the St Lawrence & Atlantic.

The long days of summer offer a rare opportunity to catch Genesee & Wyoming’s St. Lawrence & Atlantic through freights in daylight.

Last Friday, 25 June 2021, my fiancé Kris Sabbatino and I drove to Locke Miles, Maine, east of Bethel, where we set up along South Pond to wait for the westward freight, job 393.

The light was fading when we finally heard a distant whistle.

Our friend Andrew Dale had been keeping us updated as to the trains’s westward progress.

I made this image of the leading locomotives reflecting in South Pond using my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera. I set the ISO to 800, the aperture to f4.0 (my widest setting), and the shutter speed to 1/100th of a second.

After the train passed we pursued it West into the night.

24-70mm Nikkor zoom set at 53mm. Full frame sensor

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Dusk at Moosehead—June 12, 2021.

Two weeks ago ,on our last of three evenings at Moosehead, Maine, Kris and I set up at the East Outlet Bridge of the Kennebec River to catch the westward CP Rail road freight in the fading glow of dusk.

The light was dropping quickly. And by the time the train came into view it was almost dark.

Working with my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera attached to a Bogen tripod, I set the ISO to 4000, the aperture to its widest (f4) and the shutter speed to 1/60th of a second.

Notice the reflection of the locomotive head light on the bridge.

The bugs on the river were fierce!

Long after the freight passed us we could hear it making its way toward the Canadian frontier.

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Thursday, June 24, 2021 Conway Scenic Radio Broadcast.

On Thursday, June 24, 2021, I was live on the radio at North Conway during a simulcast for New Hampshire’s Lakes region radio stations FM 101.5 and FM 104.9.

This was a promotion for Conway Scenic Railroad as part of greater exploration of tourism in the White Mountains and Lakes regions.

I worked with the radio hosts to give listeners a greater appreciation for the railroad, its history and its excursions.

Using my Lumix LX7, I made these photos during broadcast and between interviews.

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First 2021 Mountaineer

Last Saturday, June 19th, Kris & I met the first Conway Scenic Railroad Mountaineer of the 2021 season at Crawford Notch, NH on the former Maine Central Mountain Division.

We spoke with the crew and arranged to make photos from the sunny side of the tracks.

A few days later, I posted some of these to the Conway Scenic Facebook page, which is among my jobs as Manager of Marketing & Events for the railroad.

File converted from Lumix RAW file.
Color adjusted and saturation increased working with the RAW file in Adobe Lightroom.
I was trying to minimize the placement of automobiles parked along Rt 302 adjacent to the tracks., while featuring the textured sky.

I made these photos with a Lumix LX7 compact mirrorless digital camera fitted with external view finder.

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Greenville Junction—Take Three.

It was a clear afternoon in central Maine- a perfect day for photography.

I’d reviewed Kris’s photos from the previous day, and I liked her angle on the bridge near Kelly’s Landing east of the Greenville Junction station. So, I tried that for myself.

Standing a road level and working with my Nikon Z6, I made this series of photos as the eastward CP Rail freight roared over the Greenville Junction/Kelly’s Landing bridge.

I processed the Nikon NEF files in Adobe Lightroom for display here.

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MBTA on Film

During our foray back from Cape Cod in April 2021, Kris & I paused for about an hour at Shirley, Massachusetts, located on the old Fitchburg Line west of Ayer.

I first made photos here on a chase back about 1985.

Working with my Canon EOS-3 with 100-400mm image stabilization zoom, I exposed these Ektachrome slides of an MBTA shuttle train.

Fitchburg Line, Shirley, Massachusetts, 26 April 2021.
Working with my Canon EOS-3 with 100-400mm image stabilization zoom, I exposed these Ektachrome slides of an MBTA shuttle train

Ektachrome slide of an MBTA shuttle train at Shirley, Massachusetts.
Ektachrome slide of an MBTA shuttle train at Shirley, Massachusetts.

Keolis, which is the designated operator of MBTA Commuter Rail was undertaking Positive Train Control installation in the Boston-area and shuttle trains were working back and forth on the west-end of the Fitchburg run.

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Ektachrome on the Cape

In April, Kris Sabbatino & I made a visit to Cape Cod, where we spent a morning at West Barnstable photographing the Mass Coastal and visiting a chicken farm.

Mass-Coastal operated a ballast train with its rare GP28 (as previously featured on Tracking the Light). Working with my vintage Canon EOS-3 with 100-400mm image stabilization zoom, I exposed a slide sequence on Kodak Ektachrome E100 reversal film.

The film was processed by AgX lab in Michigan, and last night I scanned a few of the slides using a Epson Perfection V600 flatbed scanner powered by Epson software. After scanning, I imported the TIF files into Adobe Lightroom for color and contrast fine-tuning.

My finished results are below.

Mass Coastal GP28 with_Ballast train at West Barnstable, Massachusetts, 1138am 23April2021._
Mass Coastal GP28 with_Ballast train at West Barnstable, Massachusetts, 1138am 23April2021._

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Greenville Junction—Westbound at the Station

Finding trains on CP Rail’s Moosehead Subdivision requires patience and good luck. On our visit last weekend Kris Sabbatino & I found that operations consisted of basically one road freight in each direction a day.

Moosehead Lake is an area of exceptional scenic beauty and Greenville, Maine is a lovely rural town with several fine places to eat. We only spent a small portion of our visit to the area line-side waiting for trains, but kept our ear to the ground anticipating the sounds of an approaching freight.

Several times, Kris heard or spotted a train before I did. And this was a huge help in getting into position line side with time enough to make photos of the passing freight.

One evening at Greenville, we heard a distant whistle, and drove west to the old Greenville Junction station to photograph its passage.

Lighting at the station was tricky. The evening sky exhibited subtle hues of magenta and blue, while the station building was in shadow. Light levels were low enough to require a high ISO setting on the camera to stop the action.

For these photos, I worked with my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm Fujinon zoom lens. I set the camera to ISO 1000.

In post processing, I converted the Fuji RAW files to DNG format using Iridient X Transformer, then imported these into Lightroom for adjustments. These included lightening the shadows, while darkening the highlight regions to hold detail and color in the sky, plus some contrast and color control.

For comparison, I’ve included the unmodified In-camera JPG and the adjusted DNG versions of the same image at the bottom of this posting.

Greenville Junction, Maine. Fuji RAW file converted to DNG format and adjusted using Adobe Lightroom.
Greenville Junction, Maine. Fuji RAW file converted to DNG format and adjusted using Adobe Lightroom. Compare this version to the unmodified in-camera JPG of the same image below.
Screenshot of the in-camera JPG file with information showing details of exposure.

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Sunrise, Sunset & Stars.

Last weekend on our visit to Moosehead Lake, Kris & I stayed at Wilson’s on Moosehead.

It was at this same lakeside cluster of cabins that my family and I stayed back in 1972.

Since the gaps between freights on the Moosehead Sub occasionally approached 18 hours, I thought I’d portray the passage of time with a few non-rail scenic views of the lake from Wilson’s.

Sunrise at Moosehead.
Sunrise at Moosehead.
Sunset at Moosehead.
Milky Way over Moosehead Lake. Nikon Z6 photo.

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Greenville Junction—Take 1

Greenville Junction. In the 1950s my father stopped here while traveling on Canadian Pacific’s Scoot to make photos of the crew watering the locomotive.

I recall the station from our visit to Moosehead Lake in 1972.

Historically, Bangor & Aroostook’s line met CP’s just west of the bridge and station.

Last week, Kris Sabbatino and I raced ahead of an afternoon CP Rail eastbound freight so that we could photograph it crossing the bridge east of the Greenville Junction station near the popular restaurant called ‘Kelly’s Landing’.

I made this photo looking back toward the station using my FujiFIlm XT1.

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Nocturnal Moves at Jackman, Maine

We chased the westward CP Rail freight from Moosehead to Jackman, near the Canadian frontier.

Many years ago, my friends and I slept in a van at the Jackman Station, courtesy of the CP agent on our way to Quebec.

I recalled that night back in the 1980s, as my Fiancé Kris Sabbatino and I anticipated photographing CP Rail last weekend.

Lucky for us, it stopped to switch out its consist, giving use several opportunities to make photos.

On our return to Moosehead, we met many moose along Route 15!

Exposed on a tripod with a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera
Exposed on a tripod with a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera
Exposed on a tripod with a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera
Exposed on a tripod with a Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera
Moose family on Route 15, east of Jackman, Maine. Exposed with a FujiFilm XT1.

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Kennebec East Outlet at Dusk—two views.

Among the CP Rail freights we caught on the move on the Moosehead Sub, was this westbound rolling across the Kennebec East Outlet Bridge just after sunset.

Working with my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera, I made this trailing view with the camera set at ISO 1600, shutter speed 1/50, aperture at f4.0, and the 24-70mm zoom adjusted to its widest (24mm) position.

Soon after the locomotives passed we were in hot pursuit of the train for nocturnal photos. More soon!

June 2021—CP Rail SD70ACU 7044 was in the lead.

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Revisiting the Moosehead Sub—Recon.

My first visit to Canadian Pacific Railway’s Moosehead Subdivision was in the summer of 1972, when my family rented a cabin on Moosehead Lake near the East Outlet of the Kennebec River.

In the 1980s and 1990s, I made several excursions to this beautiful and sometime elusive railroad line.

Over the years this line has changed ownership several times, and CP Rail has recently re-acquired the historic route, and since then I’d been itching to get back up there.

Over this last weekend, my Fiancé, Kris Sabbatino and I made the drive from Center Conway, NH to Moosehead, Maine where we stayed at the very same campground that I had visited as a child back in 1972.

Train operations are sparse and I wanted to make the most of trains if and when we caught them on the move. So first we investigated locations near our cabin.

Here are a few photos exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 of the East Outlet Bridge of the Kennebec River at Moosehead, Maine.

More photos of the Moosehead Sub to come over the coming days!

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SEPTA’s Broad Street Subway

In December 2014 on a blitz of SEPTA’s rail transit in Philadelphia with my brother Sean, I made this view of the Broad Street Subway at the Girard Avenue stop.

My feeling is that SEPTA’s Broad Street Subway is among the least photographed rail transit lines in the Northeastern United States.

Exposed using my First Lumix LX7.

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Brian Solomon is traveling ‘off the grid’ and this post was prepared several days ago.

Tips and Technique

IRRS Special at Cultra

On 12 April 2003, I traveled on the Irish Railway Record Society special from Dublin to Northern Ireland. This operated with NI Railways GM 111 class diesels and NIR Mark II carriages.

I made this photo during a photographers stop at Cultra on the Bangor Line.

This was exposed using a Contax G2 rangefinder loaded with FUJI Neopan 400 black & white film.

I processed the film using Agfa Rodinal Special mixed 1-32 for 3 minutes 45 seconds at 70 degrees F. I scanned the negatives last year with an Epson V600 flatbed scanner.

I’ve composed this post several days in advance as I am ‘off the grid’ for several days.

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Dublin Monochrome Sunset—12 APril 2003.

I’d just returned to Dublin from Belfast on an Irish Railway Record Society special train.

Working with my Contax G2 rangefinder loaded with Fuji Neopan 400 black & white film, I composed this silhouette of the signals and buildings near Dublin’s Connolly Station.

I processed the film using Agfa Rodinal Special mixed 1-32 for 3 minutes 45 seconds at 70 degrees F. I scanned the negatives last year with an Epson V600 flatbed scanner.

This post was prepared in advance as I am ‘off the grid’ for a few days.

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Irish Rail’s Class 121—The locomotive itself!

In October 2002, I exposed this black & white photo of Irish Rail ‘s class 121 that was in the dead-line at Inchicore in Dublin.

Although I have hundreds of photos of the 121 locomotives at work on Irish Rail, I never witnessed the first of the class at work.

This historic locomotive was cut up along with many other 121s in early 2003.

Exposed on black & white film using a Contax G2 with 28mm Biogon lens.

Brian Solomon is traveling ‘off the grid’ for the next few days.

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Extra at North Conway—June 9, 2021

Yesterday I made this photo of Conway Scenic’s Bartlett Extra ready to depart the North Conway, New Hampshire Station. This was added to the schedule to handle a school group boarding in Bartlett.

Exposed using my third Lumix LX7. File adjusted using Lightroom.

Brian Solomon is traveling ‘off the grid’ for the next few days.

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PORTUGUESE CONTAINER TRAIN—APRIL 2014

Poceirao, Portugal; April 2014:

This image of a Portuguese Railways container train under a clear and cloudless sky exhibits the soft color palate of my Canon EOS 7D.

The locomotive pictured is a Siemens electric related to the Taurus and Vectron types in use across Europe.

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Hidden Mountain (Division)

Bridge inspecting has taken me to new vantage points on the old Maine Central Mountain Division: angles that few visitors will ever get to see.

Accompanying Wayne Duffett of TEC Associates has opened my eyes to bridges and the spaces below them.

Working with my FujiFilm XT1, I made these digital images of the old Maine Central on a recent bridge inspection west of Bartlett.

Old Route 302.

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Wee Reading with the Lumix

Over the weekend, I continued to wire and tidy up our HO-scale interpretation of the Reading Company.

Scenery and structures are still in the future.

Working with my Lumix LX7, I made this series of photos.

A couple were hand-held, but others were made with aid of a tripod to allow for greater depth of field, or exposed with the camera positioned on the track for stability.

Handheld Lumix LX7 photo.
Handheld with the Lumix LX7.
Lumix set a f8 and mounted on a tripod for greater depth of field.
Pottsville Junction—Lumix on the track set at f8.

Checking out the 2102!
Chicks dig the Reading Company!

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Six Years Ago—611 passes Markham, Virginia.

June 6, 2015: I was traveling with Pat Yough to photograph Norfolk & Western streamlined 4-8-4 #611.

I made these photos of the locomotive and its excursions train passing Markham, Virgina.

FujiFilm XT1 photo adjusted in Adobe Lightroom for color and contrast.
FujiFilm XT1 photo adjusted in Adobe Lightroom for color and contrast.

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GenSet on June 13, 2013

Eight Years ago today, June 5, 2013, Rich Reed and I photographed an MBTA equipment transfer at Ayer that had come up from Worcester, Massachusetts via Pan Am’s Boston & Maine Worcester-Ayer line.

Among the items of interest was MBTA 3249, one of two MBTA GenSet diesel-electric locomotives.

I made this photo using my Lumix LX3 from the Main Street Bridge east of downtown Ayer.

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30th Street Solari Board-June 4, 2015

I was traveling from Philadelphia to Virginia on June 4, 2015.

Working with my first Lumix LX7, I made these photos of Amtrak’s 30th Street Station, focusing on the classic Solari Board that displayed arrivals and departures.

Philadelphia 30th Street Station.

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Helsinki Airport Flirt—Kivisto

Stadler Flirts were standard equipment on the new Helsinki Airport train service when I visited in July 2015.

Finally, as Kris and I are contemplating overseas travel again, I’ve taken a renewed interest in airports! Although Dublin will be on the visit-list ahead of Helsinki.

Exposed with my first FujiFilm XT-1.

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INSPECTING FRANKENSTEIN

Last week, I traveled with Wayne Duffett of TEC Associates on the fourth of four Conway Scenic Railroad bridge inspections.

Midway through the day we inspected Frankenstein Trestle, a steel/iron tower supported viaduct that was built in sight of the ridge of the same name.

Frankenstein is really two bridges, one inside the other as the result of a strengthening effort by the Maine Central in 1930.

I made these images of the famous bridge using my FujiFilm XT1 with 16-55mm zoom lens.

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Tornado! Ten Years Ago Today.

June 1, 2011 freakish weather conditions produced an F3 Tornado that struck my home town of Monson, Massachusetts.

I had only recently returned from months in Ireland and Europe.

The day began with a violent thunderstorm, but most of the morning and afternoon were oddly still and bathed in a weird hazy sunshine.

The storm that brought the funnel moved quickly and brought destruction.

I saw the tornado from my window in Monson and made photos with my Lumix LX3. Two days later I went into town to document the damage.

Enlarged version of the above Lumix LX3 image. A green sky is a bad!
Canon 7D photo, June 3, 2011.
Destroyed house on Washington Street in Monson, MA. June 3, 2011. Lumix LX3
New England Central Railroad at Washington Street in Monson. June 3.
Downtown Monson after the storm. June 3, 2011. Canon 7D.
Washington Street in Monson after the storm. June 3, 2011.

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