In September 2001, I used a Contax G2 rangefinder to expose this view of a VR (Finnish Railways) Dv12 diesel at the Oulu roundhouse.
Oulu, Finland, September 2001. My first trip to Finland began as an excuse to put my new Contax G2 through the paces. I used this compact rangefinder from 2001 to 2007.
On Thursday 9 March , 2017, two weeks from tonight I’ll be giving my Illustrated Lecture called Night Trains, Pendolinos, Iron ore, Timber and Trams to the Irish Railway Record Society in Dublin.
This will be delivered at the IRRS premises near Heuston Station in Dublin (opposite the entrance to the car park). I will begin at 7:30pm (1930).
I’ll be giving my Illustrated Lecture called Night Trains, Pendolinos, Iron ore, Timber and Trams to the Irish Railway Record Society in Dublin to be presented on Thursday 9 March , 2017.
This will be delivered at the IRRS premises near Heuston Station in Dublin (opposite the entrance to the car park). I will begin at 7:30pm (1930).
Helsinki main station is the design of Eliel Saarinen—one of Finland’s greatest and best known architects. Inspired by the Vienna Secession movement, Saarinen blended elements of the Arts & Crafts movement with traditional Finnish rural architectural themes.
In July, Helsinki’s new circular Airport service began, including operations on stretches of newly built track.
Firstly, I’ll admit complete failure on my part to experience the train on my arrival at Helsinki Airport. I was aware of the new service, and looking forward to riding it. However, I couldn’t find the train. I was told that I needed to take a bus to the station. So I bought a two-zone ticket, and when a bus arrived with the destination board reading ‘Helsinki Railway Station’ (or something like that), I got on.
I was halfway to Helsinki before I realized my mistake! Before I knew it, I’d been deposited at the Helsinki Central Station in the city center. This was a bitter defeat.
On the plus side the bus turned out to be considerably faster than the train.
A little more than a week later, I finally had opportunities to experience the new service. This is operated with Stadler Flirt electric multiple units.
Helsinki Airport train approaches Kivisto Station on 30 July 2015. This location was recommended by Sakari K. Salo who accompanied Markku Pulkkinen and me on a tour of the new line on 30 July 2015 (and again the next day by road). FujiFilm X-T1 photo.
I made my first pass over the route on 30 July, 2015, and on the morning of 31 July 2015, Markku Pulkkinen, Sakari K. Salo, and Juhani Katajisto provided me a tour of the line by car.
Juhani Katajisto drove us to this line-side location to photograph the Airport train on 31 July 2015. FujiFilm X-T1 photo.
Tomorrow, I’ll explore some necessary digital manipulation of an airport train photograph to demonstrate my experiments with Adobe Lightroom as a tool for making a photograph more effective.
Tracking the Light posts new material every morning.
Every so often a train stops in a photogenic location, which provides ample opportunity to make a variety of images.
Such was the case the other day, when Petri and Pietu Tuovinen, Markku Pulkkinen were providing me tour of greater Kontiomäki.
This pair of Finnish Sr2 electrics had brought a loaded iron ore train west from the Russian-border and were waiting for a path to continue toward Oulu at the junction with the electrified line at the west leg of the Kontiomäki triangle.
While the train was stopped, I used the moment to expose photographs with three cameras. These are a few angles made digitally with my FujiFilm X-T1 mirror-less camera, and my pocket-size Lumix LX-7. The slides remain latent.
A very traditional three-quarter angle as exposed with my Lumix LX-7.A tighter three-quarter angle using my FujiFilm X-T1.Here I’ve featured a flower growing trackside. These purple flowers flourish in the Finnish countryside during the summer. Lumix LX-7 photo.How about an angle from the other side of the train? Lumix LX-7 photo.A study of Finnish Sr2 electrics nose-to-nose. FujiFilm X-T1 photo.
Since the lighting was relatively even, my goal was to obtain the most impressive angle that features the contours and colours on the Sr2s. VR is in a transition from the older white and red livery to a new white with bright green scheme.
In railway photography timing is everything. In Finland, some of the mystery of when trains operate has been revealed through the miracle of a public service application for smart phones and mobile devices.
Thanks to the careful attention of my guides. Petri and Pietu Tuovinen, and Markku Pulkinen, we arrived at the timber loading terminal at the end of a lightly used VR branch just in time to catch the arrival of this VR empty timber train.
In the lead were a pair of venerable Dv12 diesel-hydraulic locomotives. These are the GP9s of Finland and have worked all types of traffic.
The overgrown branch line with very light rail is a total contrast with Finland’s mainlines, which feature excellent track and manicured infrastructure.
The number 750 represents the distance by rail from Helsinki in kilometers.An old Tk3 2-8-0 is on public display.Detail of the cylinder and valves on the Danish built class Tk3.
An old light 2-8-0 is positioned near the end of track as a display. Finland was still operating wood-fired steam in revenue service into the 1970s.
At Oulu, Finland, the sun hangs in the northwestern sky until after 11pm. For a visitor from more southerly regions this late light is fascinating.
My host Markku Pulkkinen showed me this foot bridge over the main railway yard and I made a series of photographs with my FujiFilm XT-1. This image was tricky.
A Swiss-designed class Sr2 electric was preparing to head south with an overnight freight. I found an alignment to capture this train departing against the backdrop of the low sun. My difficulty was in selecting the right exposure.
If it was light enough to capture the details of the locomotive than the sky would have been blasted (over exposed), yet if I exposed to retain color and detail in the sky, than the railway yard and locomotive would have been virtually opaque.
Ultimately, I made several exposures using my camera’s histogram to guide me. I avoided clipping the highlights, while allowing the shadow regions to slip to the lower end of the graph.
After the fact, I used Lightroom (recently installed on my new MacBook) to adjust the highlight and shadow areas to hold detail, while pumping up the saturation a little.
VR Sr2 at Oulu, Finland after 11 pm on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. File adjusted for exposure, contrast, and saturation.
I’ll admit the end result looks a bit surreal. But then again, I found the whole setting surreal from the get go!
I processed the file and made my adjustments while riding on the upper level of a VR train heading toward Kontiomäki.
22 July 2015, I’m whizzing along in ’tilt mode’ on a VR Pendolino heading from Helsinki to Oulu. We’ve just overtaken a freight with a pair of diesels on the move.
Just like Amtrak and Irish Rail, these modern trains have on-board WiFi. So far so good.
Using my Lumix LX7 and new Apple Mac Book I can make, process and download photos faster than ever. Thanks to the WiFi I can up load them to you quicker.
Done are the times of waiting until after a trip to have slides processed and then waiting days, weeks, months to have a slide show with friends before being able to share photos.
Why then, you might ask, did I bring 5 rolls of slides and my old EOS 3 to Finland! Well, there’s another story.
VR Pendolino under the shed at Helsinki Central Station. Exposed on the morning of 22 July 2015 using my Lumix LX7.That’s my car.Finland’s gone green!
I exposed this view of the infrastructure at Helsinki in September 2001. This is some impressively engineered and perfectly maintained track structure.
Exposed on Fujichrome Sensia II (100 ISO) slide film using a Nikon F3T with 105mm lens.
At the end of July, I’ll be revisiting Finland and expect to ride and photograph Finnish railways during my journey! Stay tuned!
I visited a variety of cities on my travels in Finland in early September 2001. One dull afternoon I was in Koupio changing trains.
An express passenger train was due in from Helsinki, so I made my way to the west-end of the station platform where I exposed this view of a 1970s-era Soviet-built Sr1 electric.
Using my Rollei model T, I opted for a low-angle to add a sense of drama to the arriving train. My primary interest was this relic of Soviet railway technology, so I allowed it to get as close as possible before releasing the shutter.
Exposed with a Rolleiflex Model T with 75mm f3.5 Zeiss Tessar lens. Exposure calculated manually.
American with German camera photographs Soviet-built electric in Finland! Yea!
In July 2002, my friends Markku Pulkinnen and his wife Marja-Liisa hosted my visit to Oulu, Finland.
I’d taken an overnight train from Helsinki. Markku and I spent several days photographing VR (Finnish Railways) action around Oulu, before embarking on an adventure north of the Arctic Circle to explore Swedish iron ore railways.
I made this panned image one afternoon of a southward passenger train gaining speed after it departed the Oulu station. This is a common class Sr2 electric, a type derived from a Swiss prototype as used on the Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon (BLS) class 465 and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) class 460.
Exposed on Fujichrome Sensia 100 with a Contax G2 rangefinder fitted with a 28mm Biogon lens. F22 1/30th of second. This was part of a sequence of images. I included an early image in the sequence in my book Railway Photography co-authored with John Gruber.
Although Finland is relatively flat, I found it a wonderful place to explore and make railway photos. In the summer, Oulu benefits from very long days. While the sun goes down, twilight remains through out the night. As result of Markku’s hospitality, I was afforded great insights into Finnish and Swedish railway operations.
