Yesterday, Kris and I went to see the new film Freakier Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, and we really enjoyed the story.
One of the scenes in the film features the First Street Bridge with a Los Angeles Metrorail Gold Line lightrail train, and I thought I’d review a few photos that I made there nine years ago using my old FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm lens.
To improve on the original Fuji RAF RAW files, I processed them using PureRAW to convert them to DNG format. Among other things, this corrects for lens imperfections and re-interprets the digital data that improves the appearance of the image.
Below are some examples: direct JPG conversions from the RAF files on top with the PureRaw conversions to DNG below. Each image is captioned appropriately.
Fuji RAF RAW file converted directly to JPG using Lightroom without cosmetic corrections to color, exposure, contrast or sharpness.Enlarged version of the above: Fuji RAF RAW file converted directly to JPG using Lightroom . [Fuji RAF RAW file converted directly to JPG using Lightroom without cosmetic corrections ]
Compare the PureRaw conversions below.PureRAW conversion to DNG format; leveled and scaled as a JPG without cosmetic corrections to color, exposure, contrast or sharpness.Englarged version of the above image: PureRAW conversion to DNG format; scaled as a JPG without cosmetic corrections to color, exposure, contrast or sharpness.
Working from period photos, including color slides that my father exposed in the 1950s-1960s, and my own images from recent years, I’ve planned an HO model railroad that is set in Pennsylvania’s anthracite country.
I’ve been scouring old topographical maps, perusing more old photos, reviewing books, and using Google Earth to adapt a prototype from the former Reading Company main line and Mine Hill Branches. I’m incorporating \elements of Pennsylvania Railroad’s Schuylkill Branch, the disused Schuylkill Canal, local highways and towns added in for color and historical context. I’m planning a coal mine (or two), a yard, engine house, and several bridges among other scale infrastructure, and if space and time permits maybe hints of the old Lehigh Valley and trolley lines that also once populated the area.
Barrys Gold Blend is fuel for my railroad building.Using a level, ruler, square, clamps, wood, glue and screws, I’ve been shaping the foundations for a world yet unseen.
From these visions, my girlfriend Kris Sabbatino and I are building this model in her basement in New Hampshire. With a view to a four-dimensional model, I’m intent on a degree of realism and tuned to learn as much about the real railroad as I can in the process of modeling it. And yet, I am hoping the final execution will retain the mystique that attracted us to this railroad in the first place. I’d like it to have a dream-like quality; real yet surreal, an alternate vision of yesteryear. After all the model is but a wee fantasy world.
I’m still erecting the bench-work that is the foundation for the railroad. It will be a while before I can lay track and wire it up, and then we can begin dressing the layout with scenery and tiny structures.
More to follow in the coming months, including more photos of the prototype!
Thanks to Kris who made some of the photos using her new FujiFilm XT4. Special thanks to Doug Scott who generously donated HO scale buildings and rolling stock that go the project rolling forward!
On Wednesday, December 12, 2018, I revisited the scene at Stafford Springs, having made photos there two days earlier.
In fact, I’ve been photographing trains passing this Connecticut village since the early 1980s, but I find it always helps to try to look at an old place with fresh eyes.
I like the arrangement of old brick buildings, the tracks along the creek/old mill race, and other elements characteristic of southern New England.
Working with my FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm lens, I exposed these views of New England Central 608 on its return journey from Palmer to Willimantic.
Clear evening, northward freight, five units and a deck-girder bridge; working with my FujiFilm XT1, I made this broadside view at Three Rivers, Massachusetts of New England Central’s 611 on its return run from Palmer to Brattleboro, Vermont.
My Zeiss 12mm Touit is a special application lens. It’s very wide, very sharp, and free from barrel distortion. However, its necessary to keep the camera level to avoid line convergence as a result of the wide field of view.
