Tag Archives: #Kodak Tri-X

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

December 1977; Long Island Rail Road

For my 11th birthday in October 1977, my father presented me with a Leica 3A rangefinder. Two months later, we were visiting my grand parents in New York City, and we took a trip over to Queens to photograph trains.

Among the places that we stopped was at Woodside Avenue, where I made a sequence of 35mm photos with the Leica of passing Long Island Railroad third-rail multiple units on the six-track line running toward Penn Station. We are looking toward the New York City Transit Authority’s Flushing Line.

Leica 3A rangefinder with 50mm Summitar lens; Kodak 5063 Tri-X film.

I processed this roll of Kodak Tri-X in our kitchen sink using a mix of Kodak Microdol-X developer.

In 1980, I used a version of this photo to help illustrate my Junior High Science Fair project titled Electrified Railroads in the United States, which earned me second place in the competition. Since that time, this strip of negatives had sat in the dark in a group of my early negatives. I scanned it last week and imported the hi-res scan into Adobe Lightroom for cropping and contrast adjustment.

Considering, I was only 11 years old, I think I made a pretty effective composition.

Tracking the Light looks back!

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Snowy Day along the Deerfield River

A quarter century ago I exposed this view of an eastward freight rolling along the Deerfield River east of Charlemont, Massachusetts on the former Boston & Maine Fitchburg route.

Guilford Rail System operated a host of classic EMD diesels, most bought second-hand from the fleets of other railroads. I was fond of these machines, and I still am.

I aimed for a classic composition that would preserve the scene on silver halide. In an instant, the release of the shutter of my Rolleiflex Model T exposed a frame a Kodak Tri-X. Later I processed the film in time-honored tradition and later filed the negatives away in archival poyethelene sleeves.

A few weeks ago, I translated the image I made in January 2001 into a digital file. The other night I made some subtle adjustments to the file and scaled the image for presentation here.

I wonder what this image will convey to viewers in another half century?

Tracking the Light ponders railway photography!

Tips and Technique

Great Northern Railway Station—Lisburn, Spring 2001

NI Railways’ former Great Northern Railway (of Ireland) station at Lisburn is a classic that retains its traditional appearance including platform canopies and footbridge.

I made this view on a visit in Spring 2001. Working with my Rollei Model T, I exposed a geometerically balanced composition, where I’ve used the canopy supports as a visual partition that divides the photo evenly at the center.

Perfectly centered compositions are frowned upon in some circles, but I’ve occasionally executed successful and visually dynamic photos using this technique. In this instance I don’t think my photo could have been improved by off-center placement of the column.

Kodak 120 Tri-X procecessed in Ilfotec HC.

Since background elements vary considerably on the right and left sides, the centered composition helps weigh the intrigue of one side versus the other.

Do you think this image would be improved if I had included a train?

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

Tips and Technique

Ballast at Tipperary

In August 2003, I exposed this photo of an Irish Rail ballast train at Tipperary that was in the passing loop.

At the time I was working with a Rolleiflex Model T that used 120 size roll film.

I was using Kodak Tri-X (400 ISO) that I processed in Ilfotec HC and toned in Selenium to improve the highlights. I scanned the photo last night using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner.

There is an amazing amount of detail in this photo. I’ve enlarged one small section of it as an example.

At the time Irish Rail class 141 number 169 was one of the last locomotives operating with the old ‘IR’ logo, a herald remarkably similar to the Portuguese Railways logo.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography

Old View of Old East Deerfield Railfan’s Bridge.

On the morning of June 29, 1985, I exposed this black & white photo of the McClelland Farm Road bridge over Boston & Maine’s East Deerfield Yard.

This is the famed ‘Railfan’s Bridge’, which was then a very popular place to make photos and watch trains.

Over the years on Tracking the Light I’ve featured many views of this bridge and its replacement being built.

Exposed using a Rolleiflex Model T with 75mm f3.5 Zeiss Tessar on Kodak Professional 120 Tri-X (rated at ISO 320) using a 645-sized ‘super slide insert’.

I processed the film in Kodak D76, and yesterday I scanned the now 34 year old negative using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography

Gorham Monochrome

Leave a comment

Back on April 3, 2020, I exposed a handful of photographs on Kodak Tri-X (ISO 400) at the old Grand Trunk Railway station in Gorham, New Hampshire.

This was on a photo adventure in the White Mountains with Kris Sabbatino.

Last month I processed the film using specially tailored split development by first soaking the film in a very dilute HC110 solution, then using a more active solution of ID11. After stop, and dual fixing baths, I washed the film, rinsed in permawash, and washed for a full ten minutes before toning the still wet negatives in a selenium solution for 7 minutes. After rewashing, and drying, I cut the negatives and stored them in archival polypropylene sleeves.

Yesterday, I scanned them using an Epson V600 flatbed scanner powered by Epson software.

Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!