Forty-two years ago, I accompanied my father to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he worked, and spend the day photographing railways in greater Boston using my 1930s-era Leica 3A with 50mm Leitz Summitar loaded with black & white film.
I made this pair of photographs at MBTA’s North Station—the old Boston & Maine terminal that served trains to Fitchburg, Lowell, Haverhill, Ipswitch and Rockport.
After so many years, the ordinary now seems exotic.
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Two weeks ago Kris & I took a spin on MBTA’s Blue Line to Revere Beach, Massachusetts.
I was shocked to find the Blue Line so empty on a Friday afternoon.
I made these photos with my Nikon Z6 and processed them digitally in Adobe Light Room.
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Two weeks ago, Kris and I visited the New England Aquarium before taking a spin on the Blue Line to Revere Beach.
I made this photo at Aquarium using my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camara.
I exposed in ‘A’ (automatic) mode using RAW which produces an NEF file.
Unadjusted, the NEF file appears dark. This is because the A mode metering compensates for the artifical lighting in an effort to hold detail in the highlights.
To make a pleasing photo, it is necessary to adjust the file in postprocessing to modify contrast, exposure and color balance/color temperature.
I have included a screen shot of the Adobe Lightroom work-window to demonstrate where I moved the slide controls to make the necessary adjustments.
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On our travels around Boston two weeks ago, Kris and I changed trains at MBTA’s Government Center station.
40 years ago I photographed MBTA’s PCCs squeeling through these subterranean tunnels. Those cars are largely a memory, as are the Boeing-Vertol ‘LRVs’ that replaced them.
So on the most recent visit to MBTA’s Green Line, I made these photos of more modern trolleys in the arificial light of the subway tunnels using my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera.
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Last Thursday evening, October 21, 2021 (10-21-2021), as we rode north on MBTA’s Orange Line I snapped digital photos from the window of the train looking down on MBTA’s former Boston & Maine lines radiating from Boston’s North Station.
We paced an outward commuter train for about a minute.
This reminded me of similar efforts photographing trains through the glass when I was a teenager.
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This afternoon Kris and I boarded Amtrak’s Downeaster at Portland. We are headed for North Station, Boston as I write, using the train’s on-board WiFi to upload photos and text to WordPress.
This evening I intend to present a photographic program to Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts at Malden.
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In February 1984, I made this view of Amtrak RS-3 No. 120 switching a heritage sleeping car in the rain at South Station, Boston using my old Leica IIIA with 50mm Summitar lens.
Virtually nothing of this scene remains today.
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In conjunction with line works on the west end of MBTA’s Franklin Branch, weekend trains were terminating at Walpole, Massachusetts with bus connections to Norfolk, Franklin and Forge Park.
The old passenger station is still in use at this location.
Here, the Franklin Branch crosses the former New Haven Railroad Old Colony line that runs between Mansfield and Framingham, Massachusetts on a traditional diamond.
More than 30 years ago I visited Walpole on several occasions to photograph trains passing the steam era semaphores that still protected the diamond.
These photos were made in November 2020 using my Nikon Z6 mirrorless digital camera.
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In December 1980, I exposed this Ektachrome slide of an MBTA PCC car heading outbound at Park Street Station, Boston.
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January 6, 1993 was a clear bright morning in Boston when I exposed this telephoto view of this MBTA Boeing-Vertol light rail vehicle at Cleveland Circle.
I was working with my of Nikon F3T loaded with Kodachrome 25. Last month I scanned this slide at 4000 dpi, then scaled it using Lightroom for presentation here.
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I had about five hours before I needed to catch a flight from Logan, so I checked my bags and went into Boston.
My goal was to photograph the old MBTA Green Line elevated near North Station before it was closed and removed.
This was way back in June 1999—More than 20 years ago.
Today this portion of the old elevated is just a memory.
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