On December 21, 2015, I exposed this photo of Amtrak’s Christmas Tree at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station using my Lumix LX7.
I processed the original Lumix RAW file using PureRaw. This shows the entire image capture, which owing to the pecularities of the lens design produces an oddly shape field of view.
I imported the PureRaw conversion into LightRoom and cropped it to produce a classic rectangle.
Do you wonder what someone in the future might think of the uncropped RAW image? It might be difficult comprehend that at the time of exposure, I never saw the wildly distorted image as captured in the RAW file.
Lumix RAW file after conversion into PureRaw and before input into Lghtroom.This is the same image as above, following cropping and cosmetic adjustment to shadow areas and color balance.
Tracking the Light Posts about railroad photography!
Last week, Kris and I visited SEPTA’s Elkins Park station on the former Reading Company line, where I was scheduled to present my program on Philadelphia-area railways to the Philadelphia Chapter National Railway Historical Society later in the evening.
We considered taking the train, but ultimately opted to drive, which proved to be the right decision owing to extreme weather that occurred later in the day.
When we arrived at Elkins Park it was bright and sunny! I made several photos at the station before proceeding to the nearby Creekside Market & Tap to meet our hosts.
While having a beer and roast beef sandwich, Wayne Duffet sent a screen shot from Strasburg Rail Road’s Leaman Place webcam: the weather was closing in on us from the west.
It was amazing how quickly the weather turned. We got back to the station just before the sudden deluge . . . stay tuned!
Just one more week until my 7pm illustrated program featuring more than 6 decades of photography of Philadelphia’s Trains and Trolleys.
This will held by the Philadelphia Chapter NRHS at the Elkins Park SEPTA station on June 19th.
I will include a variety of photographs. Many of them are from mine and my father’s archives, including this December 31, 2016 view looking west on Girard Avenue.
Exposed using a FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm lens set to 99mm.
On our visit to Philadelphia earlier this month, I made this view looking down on Amtrak’s former Pennsylvania Railroad from the Cira Green urban park.
Over the last few months, I’ve been working on a book describing Amtrak’s locomotives and rolling stock. So, it seemed appropriate that on our visit to Philadelphia, we’d take a look at the variety of Amtrak equipment in the yard at 30th Street Station.
A parking garage located a short walk from the station offers a panaramic view of the yards, where we saw everthing from a former GO Transit GP40TC (now an Amtrak GP38H-3) and retired HHP8 electrics to the latest Siemens ALC-42 Charger diesels (first time we had seen these!) a group of stored Alstom Avelia Liberty/Next Generation Acela trainsets, as well as a selection of ballast cars and a few baggage cars from Amtrak’s Exhibit Train.
I made this selection of photos using my Nikon Z7-II.
It has been a few years since I last traveled to Philadelphia by train.
Kris and I arrived at 30th Street Station (officially William H. Gray 30th St. Station) on Amtrak Keystone 664 from Elizabethtown, Pa. It was a very pleasant journey aboard Amfleet I cars refurbished to the latest interior standards. Our train glided into platform nine on time.
The main concourse of the station was undergoing some renovation, but the space remains awe inspiring.
I made this series of photos using my Nikon Z7-II, my first Nikon digital photos at this citadel of the late, great Pennsylvania Railroad.
Outside the station it was sunny, warm and humid. Unfortunately, after leaving 30th Street, I found to my dismay that my notebook was missing! This was one of those dreadful OH NO! moments. I believe I left it on the train . . . .
I always carry a notebook, as I have for more than 30 years, and I had this one since Kris and I were in Ireland. My first entry was on March 7th and my last was at Downingtown about a half and hour before I lost it.
Kris helped me fill out Amtrak’s online lost property form including a detailed description of the book. Not only is my name and contact details written on the inside cover, but a printed copy of my Amtrak reservation was tucked into the notebook. Fingers crossed—perhaps it will find its way back to me.
Although this notebook contains my chronological notes, luckily I’ve been maintaining separate notebooks for my on-going Amtrak research, so at least I can continue my day to day writing without handicap.
Five years ago today (July 10, 2017), I traveled on SEPTA to the old Reading Company station at Chestnut Hill (now Chestnut Hill East) where I made this selection of photos using my Lumix LX7.
In December 2014 on a blitz of SEPTA’s rail transit in Philadelphia with my brother Sean, I made this view of the Broad Street Subway at the Girard Avenue stop.
My feeling is that SEPTA’s Broad Street Subway is among the least photographed rail transit lines in the Northeastern United States.
Exposed using my First Lumix LX7.
Tracking the Light normally posts daily!
Brian Solomon is traveling ‘off the grid’ and this post was prepared several days ago.
I was traveling from Philadelphia to Virginia on June 4, 2015.
Working with my first Lumix LX7, I made these photos of Amtrak’s 30th Street Station, focusing on the classic Solari Board that displayed arrivals and departures.
In December 2014, Pat Yough lent me his FujiFilm XT1. At the time I was seriously considering this camera system.
We drove to Prospect Park near Philadelphia, Pa., where I put the camera through its paces. I wanted to see how it handled sunset situations.
Among the test photos I made was of this northward Amtrak train on the Northeast Corridor led by then-new Siemens ACS-64 Number 607.
Ultimately, I bought an XT-1, and I’ve been using one for more than 6 years.
This photo was adjusted from the camera RAW using Adobe Lightroom to manipulate shadow and highlight settings as well as fine adjustment to color temperature.
In August 1980, on the return from Los Angeles, my family and I visited Philadelphia for a few days.
This was the view from our hotel room.
Working with my vintage Leica 3A rangefinder, I exposed this photo of an inbound SEPTA PCC car working the No. 10 route as it approached the Trolley subway portal off 36th street.
I was working with Kodachrome 64 slide film. The window glass and summer haze contributed to a cyan tint.
