It was a bright overcast afternoon on 26 May 2005, when I photographed Irish Rail 077 leading an empty bubble cement train from Conyngham Road in Dublin looking toward platform 10 at Heuston Station.
I made this photo on Fujichrome slide film using my Nikon F3 with 180mm Nikkor ‘prime’ telephoto lens.
The telephoto compression has the effect of making the distant mountains seem closer while foreshortening the appearance of the cement train, which makes the individual four-wheel cement wagons seem even shorter than they were.
A few days ago, my daily Tracking the Light post featured a long distance telephoto view of Irish Rail’s Tara Mines zinc ore train crossing the Malahide causeway.
In that photo the train is relatively small in a big scene.
Three days later, David Hegarty and I were again out along the old Great Northern line, this time at Drogheda, to photograph the Tara Mines on the move.
In contrast to the distant view in the earlier posting, the photographs displayed here focus tightly on the locomotive and train using more classic three-quarter angle.
In the top photograph, I used my FujiFilm XT1 with a 90mm fixed telephoto for a tight compressed view (what some photographers might term a ‘telewedgie’).
While in bottom photograph I used my Lumix LX7 with zoom lens set with a wide-angle perspective that approximates the angle of view offered by a 35mm focal length lens on a traditional 35mm film camera.
Exposed using a FujiFilm XT1 with 90mm fixed telephoto lens. Notice the crossovers located on curved track.
Lumix LX7 wide view.
I prefer the telephoto view for overall appeal; this handles the soft lighting conditions more satisfactorily, focuses more closely on the locomotive and train, minimizes bland elements of the scene such as the ballast and white sky, and offers a high impact image of the train in motion. Also it helps emphasize the trackage arrangement with crossovers between the up and down lines.
Tracking the Light Discusses Railway Photography Daily.
Freshly painted Irish Rail 077 approaches Clontarf Road on the afternoon of April 11, 2013. This is the first of the repainted 071 class to leave Inchicore Works. Exposed digitally with a Canon EOS 7D and 28-135mm lens.
Freshly painted in the new Irish Rail livery, 071-class locomotive 92-60-0117077-4 (077) leads a Tara Mines zinc train at Clontarf Road in Dublin on its way to the North Wall. The locomotive is the first to leave Inchicore in the new livery. See: Tracking the Light’s extra post from April 10, 2013.
Extra! Extra! Irish Rail 077 in the new Livery makes one its first daylight runs.
Irish Rail locomotive number 0117077 leads a wagon transfer over the River Liffey at Islandbridge at 4:25pm on April 10, 2013. Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens.
A few minutes ago, at 4:25 pm, April 10, 2013, I caught Irish Rail’s 071 class locomotive 0117077 working a wagon transfer from Inchicore to Dublin’s Northwall . While the locomotive has worn this new paint for about a month, today it finally left its sequester at Inchicore works. It was understood to have worked a trial to Sallins (on the Cork road) earlier in the day.
Irish Rail locomotive number 0117077 leads a wagon transfer over the River Liffey at Islandbridge at 4:25pm on April 10, 2013. Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens.
The locomotive’s expanded number is intended to comply with European numbering conventions.
Irish Rail 0117077 leads a wagon transfer over the River Liffey at Islandbridge at 4:25pm on April 10, 2013. Canon EOS 7D with 28-135mm lens.
