Looking Back a Hundred Years

Here is an interesting scene—a British railway platform, c. 1920s, as recreated in meticulous detail in the National Railway Museum, York. Here one steps back a century—no digital screens, no neon lights, nothing post-dating the era of steam and newspapers. This is the world of P G Wodehouse and Agatha Christie, when movies were silent and radio a novelty. This is the genius of the museum scenario, a kind of immersion in which you can look into another time. The light levels in the museum are quite soft, so I was holding the camera against a vertical surface for stability, and did quite well—the light gathering ability of the old technology was only a fraction of today’s point-and-shoot ability. Supporting the camera during long exposures became second nature. I took this shot on my UK trip of November, 2011, the last time I visited the NRW, and it certainly appeals to my fascination with vanish point symmetry. Minor adjustments to contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

 

Momentary Sun

The sun finding a way through the overcast elevates moody, murky images into clear, colourful pieces with an upbeat feel. I snagged this frame in the gardens of the York Museum in the November of 2011, on my fourth UK trip for the purposes of presenting at a conference at the University of Sunderland. York has been a favourite place since childhood and I often tried to swing by when I was in the northeast. After thick weather for much of the trip, the appearance of sunshine during my afternoon in York was a welcome change, and I was lucky enough to be among the gardens and ruins of the medieval St Mary’s Abbey. The place offered interesting compositions, and the light made it all the more worthwhile. Squared up with custom rotation; minor adjustments to colour, contrast and sharpness in Irfanview; Fuji FinePix S5600. Image by Mike.

Vertiginous View

This is another frame from the set I took at York Minster, England, in November, 2011, on my fourth UK trip (I mistakenly quoted it as my third in a previous post). This was once the tallest building in Europe, some 800 years ago. Everything I said before applies, but this frame, with the skew-off in framing, creates a more vertiginous aspect. The sun came out—that’s the big thing, because so many of my UK trip photos are dominated by grey skies and racing clouds, which, though spectacular in their own right, can get a bit monotonous. Here is proof that blue skies do occur in the British Isles—just now and then! Fuji S5600. Image by Mike.

The Timeless Gothic

 

Here is an uncomplicated picture by any standards, made special by its subject matter, This soaring Gothic architecture is York Minster, which I photographed in late 2011, during my fourth UK trip. The weather was being kind on that visit, as opposed to another trip to York when it was pouring down. Vanishing point symmetry is always visually appealing, and the built environment aspect is special as it carries a context of Medieval times. No enhancement at all was done, this is just as she came off the camera. Fuji S5600. Image by Mike.

I’ve been particularly busy/distracted in the last few weeks and had not noticed the time going by, so I’ll put up three pics in quick succession.

"Black 5"

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"Black 5" is a very famous locomotive: it used to draw Queen Victoria's train over a hundred years ago. It is preserved in immaculate condition at the National Railway Museum, York, UK, and makes for a very difficult photographic challenge. First it is a highly reflective black object, second it's stored in a museum whose internal lighting is a mix of full-frequency and fluourescent types, thirdly the object is too big to paint with flash, and lastly, the light level is even softer than at the RAF Museum at Hendon. It's dark in there, and upping the virtual speed may not have made all that much difference, going by more recent experiences with concert shoots. I held the camera steady any way I could and just kept shooting, sure something usable would be among the blur. This image was gamma-corrected to bring up mid-tones, then contrast and colour balanced to restore overall integrity, and sharpened for clarity. November, 2006. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Medieval Fortifications

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Nowhere in Australia or the US will you see architecture over 700 years old, but in the Old World it's still there. Stone is a durable material, and when these walls and towers were raised (during the wars between William Wallace and Edward I, if I have my history right, though on foundations which in places are Roman) they were the epitome of military engineering. Now, these walls which surround the old city of York, England, and fortify the River Ouse which passes through the city, are lovingly-preserved remainders of a time gone by, and through which the new city has grown up and around. I took this photograph at the beginning of November 2007, to capture the texture of stone and the tonal values in the shadow areas against the water. The chip has done an amazing job of exposing the shadows in such detail, burning out the background in proportion. The juxtaposition of the new and the old is a recurring theme in any study of the Old World, and eternally fascinating. Contrast, colour and sharpness were adjusted fractionally. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Colourful Livery

This is the nose-end of a Transpennine Express, a service/route of one of the rail corporations that sprang up since the denationalisation of British Rail many years ago. Commuters will tell you service has gone to pot since the railways went back to private enterprise, and if the likelihood of actually getting a seat on some journeys (as opposed to standing between cities) is anything to go by, they're probably right. This photograph was taken in November 2007 on the platform of York Station. The exposure control of the chip is quite amazing, given that this is inside a huge building. I was impressed by the way the train's headlights burned in, and the sharpness of the reflections of the skylights in the windows. The colour scheme always reminds me of a roll of Kodak film, about ten years ago, though I'm not sure which grade had the purple in the packaging! Colour, sharpness and contrast were adjusted slightly for publication. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Autumn Leaves

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There is something irresistable about deciduous trees in their autumn clothes; they gift vivid colour to a drab time of year, and the low winter light makes moments of remarkable beauty that bring grace to cold, wet, short days. One of the great things about never being without a camera around your neck is the chance to seize these fleeting moments. I took this frame on a street in York, UK, in November 2006, on my way to the railway station. This tree stands below the medieval city walls and the evening sun caught the leaves just-so. The framing was simple, I used telephoto to fill the frame with the subject matter, and the exposure was automatic. The picture was sharpened and the colour tweaked just a little. Fuji FinePix S5600; image by Mike.

Ruins on the Roadside

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Old countries have history you can touch... Here is a medieval building, the architecture is very gothic, very ecclesiastical, and this long-ruined wall of a gutted hall rises against the sky of a winter's afternoon in York, December 2006. Part of the city's suite of surviving ancient structures, this building stands beside a busy modern road, next to the Yorkshire Museum and Gardens, and truly reminds one of the centuries that have gone before, as surely as the invisible but no less real presence of Roman antiquities in this same area. The photograph was a simple framing job, including just the right telephoto factor to compose the stonework with the golden opportunity of catching the moon in the picture. It was mildly enhanced, the watery sky of winter was colour-saturated slightly, and it was sharpened 5%. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Sleeping Dinosaurs

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Steam locomotives are wonderful things -- visually fascinating and loaded with history, machines that characterised past ages and which are preserved in museums as the ghosts of those times. This is an engine undergoing service at Britain's National Railway Museum in York, in November, 2006. The biggest rail museum in the world, it is located on part of the oldest passenger rail network: George Stepheneson's Rocket ran those lines in 1825.! This is a simple frame up but, as with the Hendon aviation museum, the lighting in these enormous buildings was perpetually in the cracks between just enough and never enough for a virtual 200ASA. I was concerned about digital grain and wanted crystal clear shots, so didn't go up to 400, and as a consequence I was permanently fighting motion blur in these places. This shot is a supported one which beat the problem. Mild enhancement: sharpen, contrast and colour. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

The Welcoming Lights

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This is the Royal York Hotel, photographed on a chilly dusk in November, 2006. I was on my way to the station, barely a hundreds meters from these gates, and had not been having a great deal of luck capturing the twilight feel of the city. Either the camera wanted to overcompensate and brighten the picture unrealistically, or the exposure was so long things besides traffic were streaking. This was a hand-held shot as I walked past the gates, there was nothing to support the camera on, and I have always been pleased with how it balanced out. Yes, the sky appears brighter than it actually was, but the lights of the hotel have registered in an amazing, homely display that feels very welcoming, in an almost Dickensian way. The texture of the shot is quite deep and the framing not bad; it has been minimally enhanced for publication, some subtle sharpening. Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Past Meets Present

This is a fairly simple shot, low light as it was approaching dusk and amongst high, narrow streets the light was dim enough for the shop lights to really stand out, yet there was enough light for passers-by to not be blurred. The amazing thing is the medieval architecture, the overhang of the buildings as the floors go up. This is not a movie set: it's the old town on the hill at York, in Yorkshire, England, within the ancient city walls and a few hundred yards from the 13th-century cathedral. There are courses of stone on that hill laid by Romans when the town was called Eboracum. You can feel history all around you, even the street market is an institution from the Middle Ages. You have to blink and remember that these narrow streets have been walked for maybe a thousand years, even more. November, 2006; Fuji FinePix S5600, automatic. Image by Mike.

Symmetry in Steel

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There is something about Victorian engineering that remains both an endearing connection with the past and a reminder of times which for good reasons are gone by. But Victorian engineers knew how to build, and build to last. This is York Station, on the oldest stretch of line in the world. Britain's National Railway Museum, the largest in the world, directly adjoins it. I took this snap on a cool evening while waiting for connections to Middlesbrough and on to my hotel in Whitby. The FinePix S5600 was set for 200ASA filmspeed and automatic exposure, the shot was hand-held, which makes the clarity somewhat remarkable. The image was sharpened but in no way colour enhanced for publication. Photo by Mike, November 2006.