{"id":2712,"date":"2013-06-06T08:21:30","date_gmt":"2013-06-06T12:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=2712"},"modified":"2013-06-06T08:21:31","modified_gmt":"2013-06-06T12:21:31","slug":"kid-with-a-camera-framingham-massachusetts-1982","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/kid-with-a-camera-framingham-massachusetts-1982\/","title":{"rendered":"Kid with a Camera, Framingham, Massachusetts, 1982."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Lacking Skill but Enthusiastic<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In1982, I was visiting my friend Dan Howard in Needham, Massachusetts<\/a>. We’d made a day of riding bicycles to Framingham<\/a> and back to photograph trains. (Neither of us were old enough to hold a valid driving license).<\/p>\n

At the time, I was very enthusiastic about the railroad, and eager to capture it on film. Yet, I had very little conception of how to make photos. Furthermore, while I had a reasonably high quality camera, this was entirely dependant on my ability to set it properly (aperture, shutter speed, and focus)<\/p>\n

I was using a 1930s-era Leica<\/a> 3A with an f2.0 Summitar lens. This didn’t have the crutches provided with most cameras today: no auto focus, no auto exposure, no zoom-lens, and no instant response digital display window.<\/p>\n

Simply getting film in the camera required the aid of a Swiss Army knife. While focusing the Leica using the rangefinder was a bit abstract. To gauge exposure, I used at Weston Master III light meter. With this camera I exposed \u00a0Kodachome slides, and black & white 35mm film that I processed in the kitchen sink.<\/p>\n

\"Framinham,<\/a>
Exposed with a Leica 3A with 50mm Summitar lens on Kodak black & white negative film; scanned with an Epson V600, and processed digitally using PhotoShop (to enhance contrast, and remove blemishes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To simply get a photo of any kind, I had base level camera-operating skills, \u00a0but no sense for how to make real<\/em> railroad photos. I didn\u2019t appreciate conventional angles, nor did I know what to crop out or what \u00a0to feature. I knew precious little about working with light or how to make optimum use of the film media. My chemical processing skills were rudimentary, at best.<\/p>\n

I just really<\/i> wanted to make railway pictures! And, honestly, it\u2019s a miracle that I got any results at all.<\/p>\n

Thankfully on that day, Dan & I met a friendly and helpful grade crossing gate keeper, who manually worked the gates where former Boston & Albany<\/a> and New Haven Railroad lines crossed the main street. He chatted with us and shared knowledge about when trains were coming. (Incidentally, I made a color slide or two of him working the gates, which seemed like the thing to do).<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the day, a Conrail local departed Framingham\u2019s North Yard, heading across the street and over the diamonds with the B&A on its way toward the Attleboro and beyond. I made this image \u2018against the light\u2019 looking into the setting sun, with a GP15-1 leading the local (which is about to cross the street) and some MBTA Budd cars in front of the old station.<\/p>\n

Sometimes raw and unchecked enthusiasm produces a more interesting image than one crafted by skill, but hampered by ambivalence (or over thinking the photographic process.) Modern photographic scanners allow for me to interpret what I captured more than 30 years ago on film, and compensate for my lack of technical skill.<\/p>\n

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