{"id":8536,"date":"2014-10-09T02:31:20","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T06:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/?p=8536"},"modified":"2014-10-02T03:17:35","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T07:17:35","slug":"classic-conrail-altoona-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/briansolomon.com\/trackingthelight\/classic-conrail-altoona-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Classic Conrail: Altoona, Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Light! Leica!\u00a0Action!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

July 28, 1987, TSH and I were poised on the footbridge at Works waiting for westbound freights to get their helpers and begin their climb over the Allegheny Divide via Horseshoe Curve.<\/p>\n

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A lone SW1200 was drilling freight cars in the yard. I\u2019ve always like EMD switchers. So while waiting for the mainline action, I exposed this trailing view of the locomotive using my Leica M2 fitted with my father\u2019s Leitz f2.8 90mm Elmarit and loaded with Kodachrome 25 slide film<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A classic view of a Conrail SW1200 switcher at work. Exposed on July 28, 1987 using a Leica M2 with 90mm lens on Kodachrome 25 slide film.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Looking back, 1987 was a threshold year for my photography. After several years of fumbling with inadequate camera-meter-film combinations, I\u2019d finally found a couple camera-film combinations that consistently yielded technically satisfactory results.<\/p>\n

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In June of that year, I\u2019d bought my own M2. By then, I\u2019d decided that Kodachrome 25 was the \u2018right\u2019 film for most daylight circumstances. Leica\u2019s sharp fast lenses with Kodachrome\u2019s extremely fine grain and exceptional dynamic range allowed me to make some very satisfactory images in a variety of circumstances.<\/p>\n

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Key to my winning formula was developing a working understanding of how Kodachrome 25 would react in different lighting situations. In 1986 I\u2019d bought a Sekonic Studio Deluxe and had begun taking detailed notes on my exposures. This will be the topic of a future post.<\/p>\n

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