Brian Solomon’s The Twilight of Steam, Behind the Scenes

John E. Pickett, Steam Hunter.

John_Pickett_with_his_Graflex_P1520078
John Pickett with his Graflex in July 2013. Photo by Brian Solomon

John E. Pickett is among the great photographers I featured in my book The Twilight of Steam. A life long friend of Jim Shaughnessy (also featured), John has had the opportunity to photograph steam locomotives all across North America.

In the 1940s, he was fortunate to grow up in Canajoharie, New York, located just across the Mohawk River from New York Central’s four-track mainline at Palentine Bridge. His early experiences watching the parade of Hudsons, Mohawks, and Niagaras working the Water Level Route inspired him to make wonderful photographs of locomotives at work before diesels took over.

John's early New York Central photos were exposed with 616 Kodak Monitor but he later bought a National Graflex that had a relatively fast Bausch & Lomb f3.5 lens and 1/500th of a second top shutter speed, and then a Series B Graflex with a top shutter speed of 1/1000th.
John’s early New York Central photos were exposed with 616 Kodak Monitor but he later bought a National Graflex that had a relatively fast Bausch & Lomb f3.5 lens and 1/500th of a second top shutter speed, and then a Series B Graflex with a top shutter speed of 1/1000th.

The Twilight of Steam features dozens of John’s images and tells of his experiences and techniques.

The Twilight of Steam was published by Voyageur Press and will be available from June 15, 2014.

I’ll be revealing more about the book over the next few days! Stay tuned.

Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.

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