A ten year old boy on his summer holidays reached up, put his sixpence into the fruit machine and pulled the handle. The first drum settled on 'Tic' - the second on 'Tac' - the third on 'Toe'. Crash! Jackpot! Just over £11 in sixpences tumbled into the tray - riches indeed!
The fortune was invested in a Kodak Instamatic 25 and the kit to do black and white processing. A life long passion for photography had started. My first railway picture was of 60024 'Kingfisher' taken one Saturday afternoon when I visited Perth station with my father to see the trains.
In 1966 the family moved to Carlisle. Joining the school railway society introduced me to both Kingmoor and Upperby, and a first acquaintance with 70013 'Oliver Cromwell'. I was one of those that turned out to see 70013 haul the last steam hauled train from Carlisle - a football special to Blackpool. At the time I took black and white - my eternal regret being I've lost both negatives and prints over the years.
In August 1968 I bought my first roll of Kodachrome to record the '15 Guinea Special' - I still have my slides of 70013 at Carlisle on that momentous day.
By the mid seventies I was living near Oxford and was part of a small group that founded the Oxfordshire Railway Society. My first success was to win their annual photographic competition with a picture of 263 on the Bluebell. It turned out to be a second 'first' too - the 'Oxford Mail' reported the competition and carried the picture - my first picture in print.
I settled into taking slides of both the current BR scene and preserved steam - but never really achieved what I wanted. Great record shots - but something was passing me by. There was a gap between what I saw and felt and what film captured that I was never able to really close.
Digital puts you in control
Three years ago my girlfriend Pam bought a Canon D30 digital SLR. She's a naturally talented photographer - and though I poured scorn on this new fangled digital stuff - I had to admire the results she was achieving.
A holiday in Corfu was a turning point. I brought home rolls of Provia with unknown results, she downloaded and examined her pictures every evening. Whilst I kept checking how many rolls of film I had left - she just kept on shooting, exploring new angles and new ideas. The immediacy of being able to see results and then take corrective action won me over. Decision made, on returning home I bought one of the first Nikon D100s into the country.
The D100 was a revelation. I bought the best glass to use with it, mastered enough of Photoshop to get by - and arrived. Suddenly I had the quality I'd always sought - but critically I had the control to get the pictures I'd seen. I passionately believe digital is enabling me achieve far better results than I ever could with film because I control every step of the process from idea to print or projected image.
Charters let you experiment
The next milestone was to be put in touch with Russ Hillier - photo charter organiser and now good friend. People say charters are a closed shop. That's not been my experience. Once you go to one you seem to be inundated with invitations to go to more! I like charters because they give me the opportunity to experiment - if the train's going to keep running up and down there's only so many front three quarter pictures you can take. I try hard to get good straight shots - but I try much harder to create images capturing the emotion of that captivating mix of light and clag.
Some thoughts about technique
I almost always use a tripod. It slows you down and forces you to look round the edges of the viewfinder. It makes you think about what to include and more importantly what to exclude. It also means you're in absolute control of the composition - and of course the pictures are bitingly sharp.
I prefer vertical to landscape format - it's a more dynamic shape to capture the emotion. It also seems to help concentrate attention on the action and the smoke - which is probably why you're taking the picture in the first place.
I almost always use graduated filters -they make the skies and clag more dramatic. In my experience digital has similar exposure latitude to transparency film - and therefore retaining the tonal balance of a bright sky and a dark loco needs some help if compromise is to be avoided.
Telephoto lenses seem to suit steam. They are an effective way of creating strong perspective and at the same time concentrating on detail. They are also invaluable at busy events in making it easier to get 'people free' shots.
Some creative fundamentals
Light is the key to everything. I always seek out ways of getting the most drama from whatever the light is doing. It doesn't have to be sunny - on rainy days shoot straight into whatever light there is and every surface comes alive with glistening reflections. Landscape photographers have known for years that the couple of hours after sunrise and the couple of hours before sunset are the time to take pictures. Chuck a measure of clag and glint in and you just can't go wrong.
Perhaps most importantly of all I ask myself 'what's moving me about this?' I look hard at what I see - trying to concentrate just on whatever it was that made me stop. Forget the detail - go for the emotion. Look for strong graphic shapes that capture the spirit of the subject. I'm not trying to recreate images of the past - I'm trying to capture that elusive thing that makes us all passionate about steam.
I've realised I'm a photographer first and a gricer second. That slight detachment helps me step back from the detail but go all out to capture the emotion. I hope my pictures show that you can take different shots when there are crowds of people around. It they do anything maybe they'll help people think along different lines when out photographing the railway scene. After all it can't all be about front three quarter views.
