A couple of weeks ago I made these Irish Rail silhouettes on Stores Street near Bus Aras.
The black & white photo was exposed on Ilford HP5 with my Nikon F3T fitted with a f1.4 50mm lens, processed in ID11, and scanned with an Epson V500.
By contrast, the colour image was exposed digitally using my Lumix LX-7 with Leica Vario-Summilux lens.
Do you have a preference?
Here’s a few more views exposed on Rollei 35mm Infrared film. These portray Irish Rail’s Loop Line Bridge over the River Liffey in Dublin.
Tracking the Light is on Auto Pilot while Brian is traveling.
Over the last few years works have been underway in the Dublin city centre to install tram tracks and related infrastructure for the LUAS Cross City extension of the Green Line.
Last week, Mark Healy and I made a walking tour on Dublin’s North Side to inspect progress on this route.
Part of the route uses the former Midland Great Western Railway right of way from its old Broadstone terminus to Broombridge.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily.
Last year Irish Rail cleared its cuttings on the northern approach to the Phoenix Park Tunnel in Dublin in preparation for introduction of a regular passenger service over the line to Grand Canal Docks.
This work had the secondary effect of improving a number of photo locations, such as this view from the Dublin’s Old Cabra Road.
Last week on advice from Colm O’Callaghan, I opted to work from this vantage point to photograph an Irish Rail empty ‘Spoil train’ [that carries debris left over from line works etc] that had been scheduled to run to the North Wall in Dublin.
Shortly before the focus of my effort came into view an empty Irish Rail passenger train arrived and was blocked at the signal outside the tunnel.
My question to you: are the photographs made more interesting by the presence of the passenger train?
Tracking the Light Intends to Post Every Day, 365 days a year.
Last week I used my Lumix LX7 to exposed this view of an eastbound tram on the LUAS Red Line at Smithfield.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily.
Irish Rail’s section of three tracks running from Islandbridge Junction to Inchicore in Dublin runs upgrade through a cutting (parallel to Con Colbert Road) known colloquially as ‘The Gullet’.
On Friday, 10 March 2017, I exposed these photos over one half an hour.
My primary subject was Irish Rail’s elusive spoil train that was expected up-road. When this passed, I relocated.
Is this a railway photo?
At dusk on the evening of March 2, 2017, I exposed this view of the River Liffey in Dublin.
An Irish Rail DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) electric train is crossing the Loop Line bridge on its way to Connolly Station.
The most prominent elements of the image are the Custom House, an 18th century relic of the British Imperial presence in Ireland, and coloured lights reflecting in the Liffey. The railway takes a secondary role.
When the Loop Line bridge was built in the late 19th century, pundits moaned that it spoiled the view of the Custom House. Were they lazy or just being ironic?
Tracking the Light Posts Daily.
Years ago I was told; don’t photograph into the sun.
When making photos it’s important to recognize bad advice.
Tracking the Light posts Daily.
Below are two views of Irish Rail’s 071 with a ballast train at the old Guinness sidings at Dublin’s Heuston Station.
This locomotive has been popular with photographers since its repainting in the 1970s heritage livery last year.
What I’m trying to demonstrate here are the various effects of lighting and technique. One view was made on black & white film in the fading daylight of early evening. The other is a digital colour photo exposed the following morning.
Which is the better photograph?
Tracking the Light posts daily!
The gloom of last Sunday afternoon in Dublin was briefly brightened by the appearance of this specially painted tram, dressed in the latest advertising livery.
Having spotted the tram arriving at St. Stephens Green, I hoofed it up Harcourt Street, where I selected a spot near the Albany House Hotel to photograph its outbound run.
Tracking the Light features something different every day.
So do you go out in poor light to catch something unusual? That’s your choice.
Sometimes I hold off for fine weather or good light to make images. Other times I’m faced with catching something in prevailing conditions. The railway doesn’t run for sunshine.
Once a week Irish schedules an extra IWT Liner (International Warehousing & Transport—Dublin North Wall to Ballina, Co. Mayo). In recent months, this has operated with the elusive container pocket wagons (CPWs). But it doesn’t necessarily run every week.
I have plenty of photos from Islandbridge Junction, and no shortage of images depicting the IWT Liner, and while I’ve photographed the CPWs over the years, last week I knew for certain (that’s railway certain, which is at best uncertain) that the CPWs were on due to pass.
So despite flat light, I made the effort.
Literally.
Hooray for puddles and dusk. (I’ve put all the useful information in the caption).
Irish Rail’s Rotem-built InterCity Railcars are about as ordinary as you can find in Ireland.
These are a common garden-variety passenger train that are assigned to most intercity services as well as some suburban trains.
Last week I made this view of ICRs passing near the end of the quad track at Cherry Orchard in west suburban Dublin.
Just so you know, there’s neither cherries nor an orchard in Cherry Orchard.
Exposed with my FujiFilm XT1.
Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!
The other day, Mark Healy and I continued our review of Dublin’s LUAS Cross City construction.
Track laying is well advanced through the city centre, yet gaps remain. Beyond Broadstone on the old Midland Line, preparatory work is on-going, while a short section of double track in the cutting near the Cabra Road is now in place.
I made these photos using my Lumix LX7 set in ‘A’ mode, but with a + 1/3 exposure override to compensate for the white sky and keep the shadows from blocking up.
All the images presented are scaled Camera JPGs. I have not modified the files for exposure, contrast or color.
Tracking the Light Posts Daily.
A couple of weeks ago, I exposed this view of Dublin’s Heuston Station using my Lumix LX7.
For the last week, Irish Rail class 201 number 231 has been working the International Warehousing & Transport Liner (Dublin North Wall to Ballina, Co. Mayo) with IWT identification marks on the Ballina-end and the sides of the loco.
Photographically this is a boon because it positively distinguishes the IWT liner from other trains.
While last week, I’d either been busy or out of position when 231 worked the train; but this morning I made the effort to catch it from my usual location at Islandbridge Junction in Dublin.
Do I have too many photos from this spot? Undoubtedly, but it’s better to have a publishable image of a distinctive train from an identifiable location, than not to have a photo of the train at all. So, for the sake of a 5-minute walk, I’ve got the IWT Liner looking the part.
For more on IWT see: http://iwt-irl.com
Today (7 October 2016), Dublin’s LUAS Green Line was out of service owing to an unspecified disruption.
Mark Healy and I were exploring progress LUAS Cross City works near the St. Stephen’s Green, where we found no-less than four Alstom Citadis trams inoperable and parked.
As of 2:45pm, LUAS was reporting that Green Line service remained suspended.
More recent reports indicate it could be Saturday morning before service resumes.
See: https://www.luas.ie/travel-updates/
I exposed these photos of the stalled trams using my Lumix LX7.
Autumn sunlight nicely filled the cutting.
Working within the confines of lines, I did my best to frame up this southward DART electric train at Dalkey.
Here’s another contemporary black & white view on Dublin’s O’Connell Street.
In the window of Ulster Bank is a view from 1916 showing the ruins of Dublin’s General Post Office, destroyed during the 1916 Easter Rising. Old trams grind along near the old terminus at Nelson’s Pillar.
A child looks at us across the void of time.
Modern pedestrians are a focused on their phones or the ATM at the side of the bank.
Today, tracks are being re-built on O’Connell Street, and after a long absence tram service is expected to resume in 2017.
Click on this link to see Tracking the Light’s Dublin Page.
This most recent batch were exposed using a Nikon F3 with 50mm f1.4 lens.
Brian Solomon’s Tracking the Light posts new material every day.
The other evening, I was passing Dublin’s Heuston Station, where I noticed a heron standing on the banks of the River Liffey during relatively low-tide.
Using my Nikon F3 with f1.4 50mm lens, I made this exposure on Ilford HP5 to show the bird and the classic 1840s-built railway terminal.
I made some nominal localized post-processing adjustments in Lightroom to help draw the eye to the bird. It’s reflection in the water helps make it more obvious.
I wonder if this effort will be obvious as the photo transcends the irregularities of the internet.
Internet imposed cropping and compression are never the friends of subtle photography. Perhaps that’s one reason that brash, bold super-saturated images prevail on the web today?
I’m serious.
An historic photo of trams on O’Connell Street has been displayed on the side of a tour bus that’s on for the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin.
Also, a more modern image of a tram is part of the collage of images.
My view is an abstraction. I exposed this using a Nikon F3 with 50mm Nikkor lens on Ilford FP4 (35mm black & white film).
I processed it in Kodak HC110 using ‘dilution B’ (1:32 stock to water), stop, fix, wash dry (with various intermediate steps). Then scanned with an Epson V500 flatbed scanner for presentation here.
Track and platform construction continues in Dublin on Ireland’s latest rail-transit route.
When completed LUAS Cross City will extend the Green Line north through the Dublin City Centre via Parnell Square to Broadstone and beyond to a new terminus at Broombridge.
The other day Mark Healy and I made an inspection of the work in progress.
Safety fences combined with the visual chaos of this urban setting makes for challenging photography. I’m hoping to add these images to my file of now and then images once the project is completed and functional.
Click on Tracking the Light to view the uncropped photos.
I watched as a band of high cloud inched across the morning sky.
Irish Rail class 071 diesel number 080 brought Belmond’s Grand Hibernian Mark 3 consist through the wash at Heuston Station. Interesting light with an unusual train.
To hold detail in the textured sky, I used a Lee 0.6 graduated neutral density filter with the darker portion of the filter positioned at the top of the frame.
Tracking the Light posts Every Day.
Thursday morning on my way to breakfast, I made this photo of Irish Rail’s IWT Liner (Dublin to Ballina) passing Islandbridge Junction.
I timed my visit well and so only waited a few minutes for the freight to pass.
I’ve often photographed the IWT at this location, so this was really just an exercise.
Soft morning clouds made for some pleasant lighting, but also a post-processing quandary.
My FujiFilm XT1 allows me to simultaneously expose a Camera RAW file and a camera interpreted JPG. Among the features of the Fuji cameras is the ability to select a film-like colour profile for the Jpg.
In this instance I’ve opted for the Velvia profile, which closely emulates the colour and contrast of this popular slide film.
Another colour adjustment is the white balance control. In this situation I selected ‘auto white balance’, which means the camera interprets the color temperature.
When I processed the photos, I wanted to see if I could improve upon the camera JPG by making subtle changes to the Camera RAW file (which has ten times more information imbedded in it than the Jpg, but serves in the same role as a ‘negative’ and is intended for adjustment rather than uninterpreted presentation).
Below are three images; the a JPG from the unmodified Camera RAW, Camera created JPG, and my interpretation of the Camera RAW file.
Incidentally, by using Lightroom, I can make adjustments to the RAW files without permanently changing the original data. This is very important since it would be a mistake to modify the original file. That would be like adding colour dyes or bleach to your original slide to ‘improve’ the result.
Tracking the Light is Daily
The Dublin and Kingstown Railway dates to 1834, which makes it among the earliest steam railways built outside of England.
Today the route composes a part of Irish Rail’s electrified Dublin Area Rapid Transit system. Outer suburban and Intercity trains (to Rosslare), plus occasional Railway Preservation Society Ireland steam trains also use the line.
Much of the old D&K is scenically situated along the Irish Sea, yet the electrification masts and wires, combined with sea walls, fences, graffiti and suburban growth can make it difficult to obtain a satisfactory vista with the line.
In late August, I rode the DART from Tara Street Station to Blackrock, where I exposed these views using my FujiFilm XT1.
Here, soft afternoon lighting helped minimize obtrusive elements, but there’s little in the photographs that convey the historic significance of the line.
The challenge continues . . .
For almost four years Tracking the Light has focused on railway photography as seen through the lens of Brian Solomon.
I exposed this view at Dublin Connolly Station in April 1998 using a Nikon F2 fitted with a Nikkor f2.8 135mm lens and loaded with Ilford HP5 black & white negative film.
The day was a characteristically bright overcast, a typically Irish day with lighting well suited to Ilford black & white.
Irish Rail has painted 201-class General Motors diesel number 231 into an interim version of the latest Enterprise livery.
This is yet to feature the pink swooshes that now characterize the Enterprise scheme.
This morning (4 May 2016) the clean locomotive worked the scheduled 11am service from Dublin Heuston Station to Cork. I made this image at Islandbridge Junction using my Lumix LX7.
Annoying me was a line of cloud that was just covering the sun. While this appeared to be moving, in fact the cloud was forming as it moved. Bright sun was so close, yet elusive.
This phenomenon is probably explainable by the effects of condensation, wind currents and cool air; but irksome when you are anticipating the sun emerging from nature’s diffusion screen.
Ultimately, the sun came out. About 45 minutes after the train went by. Poor show.
I’ve made minor adjustments to the RAW file to improve contrast.
Tracking the Light posts every day, don’t miss it!
Thursday, 7 April 2016, Irish Rail’s IWT Liner was blocked at Islandbridge Junction. This gave me the opportunity to work some less common angles in addition to my common viewing point (often featured on Tracking the Light).
By holding my FujiFilm X-T1 above my head at arm’s length and tilting the camera’s live-view panel screen downward, I was able to make this view looking over the wall at the St. John’s Road roundabout in Dublin.
Why not try this more often? Simply because I’m not tall enough to see over the wall, so to make this view I’m actually using the camera to view the scene. It’s tiring work to hold a camera above your head while waiting for trains to appear.
The other day I was at the St. John’s Road roundabout. A Mark4 set was blocked as an in-bound ICR (intercity railcar) bound for Dublin’s Heuston Station over took it on the middle road.
Using my Lumix LX-7, I made this photo by holding the camera over the wall and gauging composition from the live-view digital display at the back of the camera.
I lightened the shadows in post-processing to improve contrast.
For the next couple of weeks Tracking the Light will be on auto-pilot while Brian is on the road. Posts should appear daily having been pre-programmed into the holding queue.
Yesterday, the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) operated a pair of excursions from Dublin’s Connolly Station to Greystones, County Wicklow and return using former Dublin & South Eastern 2-6-0 461.
The trains were well patronized, which demonstrates a continued interest in Irish steam trains.
Dull weather prevailed, while cool temperatures made lots of steam condensation.
Sometimes I find that dull days makes for better steam photos.
Here’s a sample of digital images I made with my FujiFilm X-T1.
Most required contrast and saturation adjustment in post-processing.
Any favorites?
Today, Railway Preservation Society of Ireland (RPSI) operated Dublin Rivera excursions from Dublin Connolly Station to Greystones, County Wicklow.
The trains were hauled by preserved steam locomotive 461, while engine number 4 was kept under steam in reserve.
The other evening some friends and I traveled from the Dublin city centre to Blackrock on the DART-Dublin’s electrified suburban rail-transit service.
The DART branding mimic’s the Bay Area’s third-rail rapid transit brand ‘BART’ (Bay Area Rapid Transit).
While sometimes my rail travel is focused on the making of photos, this trip had another primary purpose; yet with my Lumix LX7 at the ready, I used every opportunity to make photos.
Significantly, Dublin’s Pearse Station, formerly-known as Westland Row, is credited as the world’s oldest city terminus in continuous use. It was opened in 1834 with the Dublin & Kingstown Railway. Of course, the D&K has the distinction as the world’s earliest operating suburban railway.
Ireland has been celebrating the Easter Rising Centenary.
Liberty Hall is an iconic Dublin skyscraper that makes for a interesting prop when juxtaposed with Irish Rail trains on the Loop Line Bridge over the River Liffey.
I explored this scene on 26 March 2016, when a swollen overcast sky made for typical Dublin lighting.
On Easter Sunday, I revisited my locations of the previous day. The sun was out, which changed the look of the setting. Perhaps, I’ll try again with film.
Here are more than a dozen views exposed with my Lumix LX7 on this historic weekend in Dublin.
Tracking the Light posts photographs every day.
