At 615pm on Monday July 16, 2018, I’ll be giving a slide presentation on European Railway Travel followed by a book signing for my new Railway Guide to Europe (published this year by Kalmbach Books).
This will be a real slide show with real 35mm color slides picturing more than 20 years of travel across Europe.
The Springfield City Library 16 Acres Branch Library is located at 1187 Parker Street in the 16 Acres area of Springfield, Massachusetts.
As far as transit is concerned, Lisbon is the San Francisco of Europe.
Ok, you can nitpick about the methods of propulsion, cables versus juice, but with steep hills, outstanding urban panoramas and quirky twisting trackage in narrow streets and fully functional antique cars, Lisbon’s tram system has lots in common with San Francisco’s famous cable cars.
These cities have lots of parallels too, certainly in layout and appearance, and weather.
I made these photos in the Portuguese capital on a brilliant day in April.
There’s seemingly endless opportunity for photographs. But do you work with the shadows or in the shadows?
Canon EOS 7D digital photo.View from a Portuguese restaurant. Canon EOS 7D digital photo.
For the tourist, Lisbon’s trams are both transport and an attraction.
Classic Chrome: On this day, 24 May 1996 Views along the Rhein.
On this day in 1996, my father and I made a circle trip along the Rhein from Köln to Koblenz, traveling south via the Right Bank and north via the Left Bank lines.
Working with two cameras, I exposed these views on Kodachrome and Fujichrome slide film.
Looking back, its amazing to see how much has changed on German railways in the last 22 years.
Confluence of Rhein and Mosel rivers at Koblenz. 24 May 1996.DB shunting locomotives at Koblenz Hbf on 24 May 1996.View of a northward freight on the Right Bank line along the Rhein from the walls of the Festung Ehrenbreitstein (fortress).A northward IC train passes Namedy, Germany at speed behind a class 103 electric.Minutes later a northward EC (EuroCity) long distance train passes Namedy, this view with a 28mm lens.
On May 15, 2018 at 6pm: I’ll be giving a slide show (with real 35mm color SLIDES) and lecture in Monson, Massachusetts at the Monson Free Library (on High Street in town).
On May 15, 2018 at 6pm: I’ll be giving a slide show and lecture in conjunction with a book signing for my recently released Railway Guide to Europe, published by Kalmbach Books.
I’ll have copies of the book available for purchase; signatures provided FREE!
I’ve also donated a copy of the book to the library.
The Monson Free Library is located a 2 High Street in Monson, Massachusetts.
My new guide book on European Railway Travel on the plane. With a cup of Barry’s Tea.I exposed this photo of the Monson Free Library in April 2018 using a Leica IIIA with 35mm Nikkor lens on Kodak Tri-X.I exposed this photo of the Monson Free Library in April 2018 using a Leica IIIA with 35mm Nikkor lens on Kodak Tri-X.I exposed this photo of the Monson Free Library in April 2018 using a Leica IIIA with 35mm Nikkor lens on Kodak Tri-X.
On this day two years ago, my friends and I were exploring SBB’s magnificent crossing of Switzerland’s Gotthard Pass.
This was just a few months before the official opening of the new long base tunnel, which diverted most of the through traffic away from the traditional crossing.
Today, an hourly regional passenger service is the primary way to travel of the old line.
An SBB mixed freight ascends the old Gottard line at Gurtnellen. Behind me within the confines of the mountain is one of several spiral tunnels on the line.An SBB ICN tilting train crosses the Intschireuss Bridge on the Gotthard Pass.
I made these views using my FujiFilm X-T1.
The Gotthard route is one of many scenic journeys profiled in my new book on European railways published by Kalmbach Publishing this Spring.
The short answer is the image that the publisher hopes will best sell the product.
When I was asked to supply potential cover images for Brian Solomon’s Railway Guide to Europe, I searched through hundreds of photos that I thought might work.
I exposed the cover photo in Germany’s Rhein Valley using my FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm lens.
It is aimed at people looking to travel around Europe by train.
I hoped for a cover image that showed a modern passenger train in a classic setting. Also, while the book covers a wide geographical span, I thought it would be best for the cover to focus on central Europe.
Kalmbach books narrowed my selection about 8 photos; while the choice was ultimately theirs, the image of a DB Regional Express passing a medieval tower at Oberwesel made my final cut.
This photo was exposed in nice soft sunlight; it offers a pleasant scenic summer setting with a simple, yet striking composition showing a river, a castle and a decidedly modern European passenger train. The train’s paint scheme makes it easy to distinguished it from the surrounding landscape and it appears relatively high in the image area (if it appeared too low, it might not work well to sell the book). Also, there’s ample space for the book title and other writing.
I made the cover image while on a visit to the Rhein valley with Gerry Conmy, Stephen Hirsch and Denis McCabe. We spent the afternoon of 8 September 2015 photographing a parade of trains on the Rhein’s ‘left bank’ line.
The cover image was selected from a burst of 4 photos. I’ve included a variety of the other photos I made during the same afternoon.
This photo was made slightly later in the sequence of photos from which the cover image was selected.
This Mittelrheinbahn local train was exposed a few minutes after the cover image. The lighting isn’t as nice as the cover image.A DB class 101 electric leads an IC train at Oberwesel. Although a dramatic image, the train is lower in the image area, the catenary masts present greater visual clutter and the train is a generation older, thus will tend to date the book more quickly.DB auto train. Admittedly, while I like the views of freight trains, these are are unlikely to sell the book to passenger train riders. I did include a handful of freight photos inside the book. Including a vintage image my father made on an SNCF freight in 1960.A Swiss Cargo intermodal freight at Oberwesel. This was one of many freights that I photographed that afternoon.An Austrian EC train with leased Taurus electric and ÖBB carriages, makes for a nice international image. The colors of the locomotive don’t work as well as the DB Regional Express ultimately selected.
Crossrail is one of many private operators running freight on German rails.A DB class 101 leads an EC train with SBB carriages. Now who left his camera bag in the photo?Catching this vintage class 225 ‘Rabbit’ with a maintenance train was a real coup. Yet, hardly cover material for a book aimed at riding trains.Here’s a slightly different angle at the same location. This features a castle perched atop the hill, but is a more cluttered view.
All of these images were exposed over the course of less than an hour using my FujiFilm X-T1 digital camera.
Brian Solomon’s Railway Guide to Europe should be available at the end of May.
Yesterday I was thrilled to receive my Author’s advance copy of my Railway Guide to Europe.
This represents a culmination of more than 20 years of wandering around exploring Europe by rail, while seeking places to make photographs.
I exposed the cover photo in Germany’s Rhein Valley using my FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm lens.
This is aimed at helping you plan your trips around Europe by offering experience, suggestions and thoughts on where to go, how to get there, how to buy the best tickets, while hinting at what to avoid.
This is illustrated with hundreds of my best European photographs.
It goes beyond the railways and suggests myriad interesting places to visit with detailed sections on London, Paris, Vienna and Rome among other European cities.
