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Russian Ore Train in a Finnish Forest

July 23, 2015 was a whirlwind day of railway photography in central Finland

My host Markku Pulkinnen arranged for local photographers Petri and Pietu Tuovinen to guide us, while exploring lines between Kontiomäki and the Russian frontier zone.

Kontiomäki is a minor regional hub in north central Finland surrounded by lakes and forests.

At Purnu, we set up near an automated defect detector to catch an eastward train carrying Russian iron ore. This was a heavy train by European standards and led by a pair of Swiss-designed Sr2 electrics.

It was one of many trains we caught that day, which sticks in my mind as one of my greatest railway adventures in northern Europe. In summer the long days and textured skies permit many hours of productive photography!

Photos exposed using my FujiFilm XT-1 with an 18-135mm Fujinon X-series-zoom, adjusted in post processing using Adobe Lightroom.

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photography, Tips and Technique

Oulu Roundhouse—Summer 2001.

On a visit to Oulu, Finland in Summer 2001, my friend Markku Pulkkinen arranged a visit the VR Group roundhouse.

At that time this was still the primary facility for locomotive storage and repair in Oulu.

In modern times, a big modern train care center has supplanted the old roundhouse, which on my visit in 2015 was largely used to house historic railroad equipment.

I made this photo on 120-size Kodak Tri-X using my Rollei Model T. In addition to a handful of black & white photos, I also made some color slides with my then-new Contax G2 rangefinder.

Tracking the Light Posts Everyday!

photography, Tips and Technique

Helsinki Airport Train—three digital interpretations.

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Going back over my Fuji digital files from 2015, I’ve selected this image of a VR Group Stadler railcar working the then-new Helsinki Airport train at Leinelá, Finland.

Below are three interpretations of the same image exposed using my FujiFilm XT1. The first is the In-camera JPG without color correction or alteration except for scaling and watermark.

The second is the Fuji RAW file imported and adjusted strictly using Lightroom.

The third is the Fuji RAW file first converted using Iridient X-Transformer and then imported into Lightroom where I implemented the same color and contrast corrections.

One minor difference with this Iridient interpretation is that I turned off the the feature that automatically corrects for lens distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting. So this gives a slightly less invasive digital interpretation and a truer sense of the visual information as recorded by the sensor.

FujiFilm X-T1 in-camera JPG.
Fuji RAW file interpreted by Lightroom with my color and contrast adjustments.
Fuji RAW file converted to a DNG file using Iridient X-Transformer and then imported into Lightroom. Same color and contrast adjustments as the Lightroom converted RAW file above (2nd photo). However there are no digitally applied corrections for lens distortion, chromatic aberration, and vignetting. Iridient will correct for these lens characteristics but I opted to turn the correction feature off for this comparison.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography

Five Years Ago-July 22.

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On this day in 2015, I was visiting my friend Markku Pulkkinen in Oulu, Finland.

Oulu is far north, and in July it never gets completely dark.

Working with my then new FujiFilm XT-1, I made these evening photos late in the day near the VR locomotive sheds at the north end of Oulu’s expansive yards.

Finland is one of my favorite places to photograph, and I hope to return someday when travel returns to normal.

Tracking the Light Posts Every Day!