by Paul
I have seen some of the work from the people who contribute to the LIRR forum which is why I am posting it here. I consider some you to be my friends. Some of you have excellent photographic eyes, and I would like to see them develope more.
Something is being lost in "our" world that needs to be preserved. I am not talking about FAs or station buildings, old signals or time tables. I am talking about the art of film photography. In our normal "hurry up I need it yesterday" approach to life, we are ending up with a new generation that does not know how to work with film. Now before any of you younger digital guys chime in about your Cannon or Nikon 35 mm, simply loading some Extachrome with your favorite 55 mm F 1.4 lens and shooting with the sun behind your back (east bound trains in the am, west bound in the PM) just doesn't cut it
I suggest finding an old Yashica twin lens reflex 120 roll film camera or better yet, a Crown or Speed Graphlex 4X5 press camera and really learn how to shoot trains. There is so much more you can do with these cameras that will only make you better photographers when you shoot digital. Yes, it is more time consuming to set up, and more expensive on a per frame cost to use, but you will also learn to read the light and shadows, and you will also choose your pictures way more carefully then you would if you shoot the traditional 35 mm way of: take 20 frames and maybe you will get one." After you get your negs or transparencies back, then you need to catalogue them and store them in a suitable way that will protect them for a hundred years.
Before you guys say nix to shooting large or medium format, a good 4X5 Crown or Speed Graphlex should cost less than a good digital camera (about $300), and I bet you can reed the data in the builders plate with the 4X5 and I know that would be impossible with even the best digital cameras. How bout it folks. You young'uns up to some real photography?
Something is being lost in "our" world that needs to be preserved. I am not talking about FAs or station buildings, old signals or time tables. I am talking about the art of film photography. In our normal "hurry up I need it yesterday" approach to life, we are ending up with a new generation that does not know how to work with film. Now before any of you younger digital guys chime in about your Cannon or Nikon 35 mm, simply loading some Extachrome with your favorite 55 mm F 1.4 lens and shooting with the sun behind your back (east bound trains in the am, west bound in the PM) just doesn't cut it
I suggest finding an old Yashica twin lens reflex 120 roll film camera or better yet, a Crown or Speed Graphlex 4X5 press camera and really learn how to shoot trains. There is so much more you can do with these cameras that will only make you better photographers when you shoot digital. Yes, it is more time consuming to set up, and more expensive on a per frame cost to use, but you will also learn to read the light and shadows, and you will also choose your pictures way more carefully then you would if you shoot the traditional 35 mm way of: take 20 frames and maybe you will get one." After you get your negs or transparencies back, then you need to catalogue them and store them in a suitable way that will protect them for a hundred years.
Before you guys say nix to shooting large or medium format, a good 4X5 Crown or Speed Graphlex should cost less than a good digital camera (about $300), and I bet you can reed the data in the builders plate with the 4X5 and I know that would be impossible with even the best digital cameras. How bout it folks. You young'uns up to some real photography?
Paul
"We are all here because we are not all there."
"We are all here because we are not all there."