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Tracking the All-Retro

I’ll be introducing a new format for Tracking the Light. This will be an ALL-RETRO format. Only black & white film photos will be displayed. These will only be exposed with traditional cameras using hand-ground glass and mechanical shutters.

Instead of scanning, latent (exposed and unprocessed negatives) will be sent directly to subscribers along with the correct chemistry for processing on-site. I will supply detailed instructions on how to process the film and make your own prints.

Instead of the post office, I will use the Railway Express Agency, so you will need to collect your ‘Tracking the Light’ post at your nearest REA office. I will supply a list of offices via telegram.

Owing to the added complexity of distributing Tracking the Light using all-retro means, I will only post annually with shipments carefully timed to arrive on April 1st!

Brian Solomon’s Tracking the Light is a rail-photo blog.

photography

North Conway Station after March Snow

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Last March on my way to work I exposed a series of black & white photos of North Conway, New Hampshire. Fresh snow blanketed the ground, with a clear blue sky above.

Such a contrast with July . . .

I made this photo using Kodak Tri-X exposed with a Nikon F3 with 105mm Nikkor Lens.

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photography

Mexico City Metro—40 Years Ago.

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My memories of riding the Metro City Metro with my uncle Mark 40 years ago contrast sharply with these photos that I made during that same visit.

Having grown up traveling on the New York City and Boston subways, I was astounded by the crush-loading in Mexico City.

I recall being swept along a platform holding my uncles hand as tightly as I could as we squeezed into an already sardine capacity train.

In reality, those conditions weren’t conducive for a 13 year-old Gringo to make photographs.

In retrospect, I’m amazed that I got anything at all.

Apologies for the relatively poor condition of these images. My negatives were hand processed without concern for archival concerns and stored in a paper envelope in an attic for the better part of four decades. I scanned them last month.

This isn’t how I remember the Mexico City Metro! I recall dense hurried crowds. Funny how memory works.
Although damaged, I like this photo because it shows Mexico City Metro’s rubber-tire propulsion, which is what I was trying to capture during my December 1979 visit.

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photography, Tips and Technique

Chester, Vermont—Revisited.

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I don’t recall the first time I visited the old Rutland Station at Chester. It was in the Steamtown-era and lost in the fog of my earliest memories.

I do recall watching Canadian Pacific steam locomotives run around the excursion train here in the days before I regularly made photos.

Yes, there was a time when I didn’t always carry a camera.

Those days ended on my tenth birthday when Pop gave me my own Leica IIIa.

That camera rests on the shelf waiting to be repaired. In recent years I’ve been playing with identical IIIa bodies of the same period (late 1930s).

Here are a few views of Chester exposed with various cameras on June 7, 2017.

The details are in the captions. Any favorites?

Lumix LX7 view in the morning at Chester.

Lumix LX7 view in the morning at Chester.

Leica IIIa with 35mm Nikkor lens on Fomapan 100.

Leica IIIa with 35mm Nikkor lens on Fomapan 100.

Leica IIIa with 35mm Nikkor lens on Fomapan 100. Afternoon view with VRS 263 in the distance.

Leica IIIa with 35mm Nikkor lens on Fomapan 100.

Leica IIIa with 35mm Nikkor lens on Fomapan 100.

Vermont Rail System freight 264 heading north (west) toward Rutland approaches Chester. Exposed using a FujiFilm XT1 digital camera with 18-135mm zoom lens.

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