photography before photonet Chessie, from South Street Bridge, Philadelphia, PA

Extremely beautiful. Very nice gradations and composition. Interesting, when did you make this shot.

I really like your B&W work. This is one of the best in my opinion. Details are just great.

Perfect composition,and balance, great tonality!!!!

The beauty of the clouds above is an interesting opposition to the stream of dark smoke from the train, without them or with different contrast in the sky you might end up with what would appear a wasteland--the sky avoids that (though it may be interesting to see it). Might try a crop where the right edge of the tracks comes to the corner of the picture, though this is less a complaint over your own choice than an option to consider-artists perogitive. Nice image.

good composition and subject

I like! Has the look of a shot from the 1940's but with contemporary architecture. On my monitor I'm wishing for a little more weight in the sky though. Not much because we don't want it blending in with the smoke plume, but as is I find the sky a little weak compared to the rich look everywhere else. A great industrial feel to this. And a very nice composition.

 

It's interesting seeing so many people milling around on the tracks! Was this a special occasion of some sort?

Wow, a lot has happened here since I started to write this little story, but that was an over an hour ago. The year was 1978. I had enrolled in a University to study oceanography, discovering after 1 1/2 years a calling to photography instead, prompting me to transfer from the university to a small commercial photography school in Philadelphia. A 2 1/4 camera was required of all entering students, most of us opting for twin lens reflexes because they were less expensive than single lens models. Many students bought Yashica Mat 124-G's, for about $150, but I went ahead and invested in a Mamiya C-330 TLR, which was upscale for twin lens models, but I was serious about this photography stuff, and I wanted a system camera with interchangeable lenses. I also bought yellow and red filters. http://www.people.virginia.edu/~edb9d/images/1stfloor/basic/basic/1978.sleeper.jpgThe first classmate I met up with was Pete, who worked with an old Bronica SLR. During the first few weeks of classes we would roam the streets, searching for subjects to shoot. Pete was with me when I photographed The Sleeper and in fact, I have a shot of him scowling at me: The Sleeper stirred, and I quickly aimed the camera at Pete as if I were photographing him instead. When the Sleeper returned to his slumber I made another one or two exposures and Pete and I moved on. http://www.people.virginia.edu/~edb9d/images/1stfloor/basic/basic/1978.conduit.jpgAnyway, As I remember this photograph, Pete and I were wandering around a few blocks from his Spruce Street apartment. I had just finished taking this shot (left) when we turned and began crossing the South Street Bridge, which spans the Schuylkill River (that word is pronounced skoo-kul, a dutch word, I'm told) While crossing, we noticed several people standing around looking down river. Seeing our large cameras, and my tripod (Pete didn't have a tripod) one old fella asked if we were here to photograph the train. The man explained that an old steam locomotive was due to come up the tracks at 12:30, bound for Philadelphia from Baltimore. We looked at our watches and it was just about12:30. After a brief discussion he decided to go down to the tracks and shoot from there. I couldn't imagine a decent shot so close, not to mention my concern that the train would come while I was enroute, so I decided to stay up on the bridge and shoot from a higher vantage point. I had already shot 6 frames by the conduit, leaving 6 frames for the train. Reloading was out of the question because I would have had to take the camera off of the tripod to load it and I didn't want to risk the train coming while my camera was all apart. So, I waited and tried to imagine what would happen. Soon enough, the train came and I started cranking as it entered the viewfinder, slowly at first, because it was coming straight at me, then more quickly as it began to take an angle across the front of the square.http://www.people.virginia.edu/~edb9d/images/1stfloor/basic/basic/1978.chessie.jpg I was using Ilford ISO 100 speed film, I think, and a yellow K-2 filter. My exposure was 1/125, maybe 1/250, but I don't remember the f/stop. I managed at least 4 frames, maybe 5, before it passed under me. It turned out that I miscalculated the exposure, and then underdeveloped the film, resulting in flat negatives with very little shadow detail. Additionally, what I thought was the best image got kinked in processing. If you knew where to look, you could see Pete down there among all those little specks. As I remember it, he got one shot from a low perspective, looking up as the train came bearing down on him, but he was so close, and his shutter speed was too slow to keep the moving train sharp. Without a tripod, he was forced into hand holding, too. I had felt a lot of pressure to stick with him when he decided to wait below the bridge, but I followed my own instincts and learned to trust my own way of seeing things.

This photo remember great american photographers !!

Unbelievable, this is so good, I can't imagine that the neg was bad. You have brought out the tones wonderfully. Everything is so good, I don't know what to comment on, I love it.

That was the year. A momentous year I dare say! I was 18 years old. In my case that meant young, stupid, with no future whatsoever. I decided to use my birthday money to buy a Pentax K1000, so it seems we started our adventures in photography at about the same time! Unfortunately while you were out shooting wonderful images like this I was still trying to get the hang of all that f-stop lunacy. And a successful roll of film meant that 2 frames were in focus. It looks like you caught on quicker than I did. :-)

Doug, you did some killer work in the darkroom based on what you said about the negative. The tones are just wonderful. Both the shots are very very good and wonderfully reverential of a bygone era, which may answer Bob's question about why the people were milling around. I remember in 1976 as a kid of 11 going to see the Bicentennial Train as it passed through Chicago. The train was repainted Southern Pacific Daylight Streamliner, circa 1940, restored to pristine condition. What a sight it was. These old steam trains have a life and power to them that you just don't see on the rails anymore, as I bet Doug may remember as he watched this beautiful old Chessie System beast pass by him in '78. There's just something extraordinary about watching and hearing these old timers in action. Never ceases to depress me when I see some of these old beasts sitting and rusting in an underfunded rail museum somewhere. Just look at the smoke billow here! Really brilliant. Its this aspect also that makes me slightly give the edge to this one versus the other. Although the other is great as far as the angle goes, I'm not quite as taken with it due to the fact that you caught it with its smoke blowing back down on it, rather than erupting straight up and out of the stack. A detail I know you had no control over but its something that would have made it aesthetically perfect to me. I love these images Doug. If I ever blow through your neck of the woods, I'd happily buy this as a print. Lovely work.

Doug - this is the best photo I've seen of yours. I've noticed you've begun placing a tone scale on your images info box (see above). Very good idea.

 

To my eye, the increased contrast and bit darker imaging / printing of this image compared to many of your other less contrasty / lighter images is much more in keeping with what a well exposed & properly developed b&w neg will give you in the final print without a lot of dodging and burning.

 

The black smoke from the train contrasted with the grey in the sky and clouds adds a sort of 3D effect. The clouds themselves look just as clouds might during this time of day. Very well done, sir. An excellent composition as well.

excellent!

To add to my comment on the other train picture, I like this one better because of the background buildings that create contrast with what could otherwise simply be an old classical picture.

Yet one more fine example of just how dramatic really good B&W photography can be.

Original and very interesting picture.

I think I prefer this photo to the other one with the train you uploaded. Both are good, matter of taste that I prefer this one.

 

The other one has the train more in the foreground, whereas the foreground of this photo is relatively empty. The other one is therefore more dynamic. 1) because there is more feeling of depth because the foreground is filled, and 2) because there is a curve in the train.

 

I think the background in this photo provides a very nice context for the train, the black smoke sets of nicely against the clouds. Maybe this photo would have been even better if the train would be, like in the other photo, more in the foreground as well. But the context provided by the background together with the very nice tonal range makes this photo very moody. This mood is well conserved as it is less dynamic than the other photo, I guess.

 

Very nice!

 

Regards,

 

Julien

ah! what a sight. it's a classic

Yes...that was the year. I was 15 years old, i working in the summer holidays and use the money to buy a Canon AT-1. I start my adventure in the same time! Your B/W work is wonderful, i like it very much...but this one is special. I love the "old american" style of this picture! All my compliments!

 

Yes, Richard, the neg is bad, and Andy, this image was accomplished in the digital darkroom. I havent printed it in many, many years, and perhaps I could do better with some of todays sophisticated enlargers, in fact, I know I could. The problem is in getting the contrast of the sky to match the contrast of the lower half, the ground, foliage and train.

What a trip down Memory Lane its turning out to be. In December, 1977 I used Christmas money to buy a Canon TX, the equivalent of Bobs Pentax in terms of features and mechanics, but lower on the technology scale than Robertas AT-1. I resist taking much credit for these early successes, owing to beginners luck and the marvelous way inexperience can sometimes work serendipitous magic. The only skilled decision I made was to stay on the bridge, a matter largely of timing and circumstance as much as aesthetics, as explained above. The rest, exposure, timing, filters, etc, was science and the result of paying attention in class and remembering what I had read and learned from previous work.

I dont mean to say that I just stood there and picked my nose with one hand and operated the camera with the other. What I mean is that while I thought about what I was doing, I didnt have the breadth of knowledge to think very far beyond the basics of exposure, camera operation and composition, and that the resultant images are more intuitive than purposeful. In that sense, taking credit is like acknowledging a responsible part in the circulation of my blood, or in blinking my eyes when smoke gets in them.

I wish I could return to that state of mind. After 20+ years I have trouble approaching a photographic opportunity because of all the additional awareness Ive accumulated over the years, which is to say, I have a larger camera bag now, and it holds more gadgets. In those days the shot was a simple exchange. Today, its a massive consideration of technique, equipment, content and time. Also, part of my getting into photography 9 months prior to this shot is a story of unrequited love so there was an emotional undercurrent that swept me along and maybe that explains a lot of it.

James, thanks for noticing the tonal scale. Youre welcome to use it, too. Just place the HTML code, below, next comment, into your technical details box when loading an image to photonet. The HTML code pulls an image file currently on the database and displays it, rather than loading it as a new image. I started doing this because a comment on another image indicated that members monitor was way off compared to mine. Copy and paste exactly what you see in the next comment, except that where the asterisks are is where you can type your real technical info I did it once and the system has carried it over with every subsequent upload.

The crazy contrast adjustments used on this image which make it look like it originated from a good negative involved several Photoshop layers, each adjusted to a specific contrast, for example, one for the sky, one for the smoke, one for the tracks and river, one for the train, etc. They were then blended with careful erasing from one layer to the next. Very time consuming and tedious.

Although the background looks like a factory, I believe its actually several facilities that overlay one another in the space of the photograph to appear as one large industrial complex.

Since I was stationary, and in the possession of only one lens, an 80mm f/2.8 (Normal for that camera) this and the sister image are of the same magnification, which means this is cropped considerably. Compare the two to see how much is missing. The other image is nearly full frame.

Thanks for all the complimentary and thought provoking comments and questions. I hope this shot inspires you to go out and do some shooting, especially if youre a beginner and dont know what youre doing.

Actually, the system won't allow me to upload the code because it thinks I want to load it as HTML and so it displays the scale itself, instead of the code for the scale. To fool the system, where you see percent signs % substitute them for this symbol: <

There will be two such replacements.

%img src="http://www.photo.net/general-comments/attachment/846829/steptablet.500.jpg">%p> *******

An excellent composition; I really like the power-plant(?) in the back, of course all the smoke and those great clouds ...

Excellent toning and composition. Thanks for the memories. I rode this train from Baltimore to Harper's Ferry WV that year

Great lighting and contrast!

Very powerfull, dynamic photo. The motion of the train is sharp and yet you can feel the raw power in the machine. I think the steam and clouds make this photo. The foreground is a bit busy, but I guess you need to keep that because the train has to have somewhere to go to, without running right out of the frame. I read about your tedious time consuming burning and dodging in PS. Very well worth the effort to seperate the steam and the clouds.

 

I have not had time to check the differences in cropping or even assess the other one. This one is very nearly perfect. And you just an enthusiastic beginner!! The hint at the reasons for producing good art (unrequited love) lead me to think about John Orr's photography and how soulfull some of his images are for a similar reason. Thinking about the history of great artists in general there seems to always be some hardship or upheaval in their lives or flaw in character that they have overcome, to become really great. I guess I will pass on being great. *grin* I eagarly await the conclusion of that story. Doug! You cannot just hint at that and leave us hanging! Guess we have to wait for the book. Another 10 years? Oh well, it will go by quickly.

 

Now, my main reason for coming to your photo is a selfish one this time. (Came here and found far more than I was looking for in information and entertainment). I have ripped off the source of the coding of how you add those images to your comments instead of the usual way. There is a description of how in the FAQ but I could not follow it, without an example. Here is what I am talking about: I cannot add the coding but you know the part I mean.

 

My questions with regard to that coding are:

1) is there a space between the

I understand the align.

 

 

2) Does the width and height always stay at "100"?

 

3) It appears that the image added must already be in photo.net's data base. Is that correct? I suppose that coding might pull an image off another web site, but the image added in this manner would firstly need to be on the web somewhere?