Tag Archives: #OBB

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Taurus and a Puzzle-switch

Among my slides from 8 September 2008, was this image of freights at Wien Huttelsdorf, Austria.

In the afternoon, I aimed my Canon EOS3 loaded with Fujichrome Provia 100F toward an ÖBB Siemens-built Taurus electric as it hummed its acceleration song while leading a freight out of a siding and out on to the main.

In the foreground is a ‘slip-switch’ or ‘puzzle-switch’, an arrangement of rails that allows maximum route flexibility between converging routes.

For 15 years this slide sat unlabled in the dark. Working from my notes taken during my September 2008 trip, I was able to accurately label these photographs.

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Ten Years ago in Austria

On this day ten years ago (January 11, 2012), I spent an afternoon with my Irish friends Stephen Hirsch and Denis McCabe around Werfen, Austria, photographing the ÖBB in action .

I made this selection of photos with my Canon EOS-7D—a camera that I still own, and still occasionally use.

I love the Canon color palatte, and this really shows in these digital photos in the snowy landscape along the river Salzach.

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Semmering Monochromes

This represents another experimental series of scans with my V600 and recently downloaded Epson Scan 2 (6.4.99.0) software.

I’d purchased my Epsom V600 about 2011 to replace an earlier Epson V500 scanner that had suffered a failure. Until recently I was using the original Epson software to drive the V600. The other night I decided to upgrade the software and install it on a more modern & much faster Apple MacBook Pro.

Although Epson’s Scan 2 software appears to have been on the market for a while, I’d just discovered it the other day. More to the point, I’ve found that it vastly improved my scans. This scanner-driver software combination offers greater clarity, exceptional sharpness, and runs faster and more consistently which allows the same scanner to perform noticeably better than with the earlier Epson driver.

I’d exposed this medium-formet Kodak Tri-X 400 ISO black & white film using my Rollei Model T, while exploring Austria’s Semmering Pass with photographer Denis McCabe in August 2003. On a warm afternoon we waited out a thundershower at the station shelter in Breitenstein.

 I’d processed the film after my return to Dublin using Ilfotec HC liquid developer which offered broad tonal range and very fine grain.

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