I’m not a professional photographer but have always strived to get the best results from my equipment. It took some time but I’m so glad I finally moved onto digital from slides. I’m very open minded on capturing my images (although like most, the 3/4 sun on the front angle is always favourite) but I can’t yet bring myself to use a pole to obtain an image. Each to their own as they say but my personal view is a “proper photograph” is what you have seen looking through the camera’s eyepiece, not via a tablet!

However I do agree that some beautiful images have been captured using the pole method and have opened up previously unavailable locations and another aspect of this wonderful hobby.

It is also very much appreciated if an image is recorded using a pole it states so in the description.

 

As for my personal profile I first started recording the railways on a second hand Praktica MTL3 during the summer of 1981 aged 16 (yes a child of the 60’s 😉) although I had been train spotting for a couple of years beforehand.

For the next 18 months I stuck to print films mainly due to cost. I even had a try using B&W when I attended an evening college course.

Early in 1983 as I was then in gainful employment and earning a bit more money I moved onto slide film and tried to record what I could of the quickly changing scene. Cost was still an issue so there was a lot of experimenting with different brands of film such as Kodachrome, Agfachrome and even Boots the chemists’ own brand, which surprisingly produced good quality results.

Unlike those taken on Agfachrome almost 40yrs on they haven’t gained that purple look!

 

I settled with Kodak’s Ektachrome range for a couple of years until I discovered Fujichrome and was so impressed when they introduced their Sensia & Velvia ranges that I changed over and they remained my produce of choice from then on.

 

Looking back it’s hard to believe how much disappeared on the railways in such a short space of time. Everything from the early diesels and first generation electric locomotives to nailed on freight workings. Even some lines closed!

 

The mid to late 80’s was my favourite period. So many photos were taken around Warrington as that’s where I lived at the time. Although keen on capturing the local scene there was also a fair bit of loco bashing thrown in which included several week long trips to Scotland & the West Country with my long time friend Mike Ball. If only I’d photographed as much as I’d bashed!

 

In the late 80’s I joined the Police Service and with marriage, career & a young family, getting out to photograph anything other than the odd local working became much harder.

 

It was not unknown for me to occasionally appear by the lineside around north Cheshire whilst on duty in my Police Car if there was an unusual working!! Much to the amusement from those who knew me and some concerned & worried looks from those who didn’t as they panicked and wondered why the police were approaching them!

 

What I didn’t appreciate at the time was that lots of what I observed appeared to be so mundane that it would very soon be a historical image of something unlikely to be repeated. The ongoing cost of slide films probably assisted the decision to go for quality rather than quantity.

 

In fact I captured very little from the mid 90’s onwards and I had just about given up on railway photography around 2000 and was still using slide film!

 

However I finally bit the bullet and bought a second hand digital camera in 2010, a Canon EOS Rebel XSi.

Within 12months I had upgraded that to a Canon550D.

The number of shows that could be taken (and discarded) for no additional cost helped.

 

Both cameras were mainly used to capture holiday images and scenic views as I followed my passion for worldwide travel. I never really lost my interest in railways and still took the occasional shot of a train.

 

I properly caught the photographing bug again mainly thanks to several visits to the ELR and especially after attending their 2013 Spring diesel gala where I spent a whole day photting everything I could. It was only then I realised I could click away with no extra expense (as long as I deleted the many repeat shots). Over the next few years I continued to visit more heritage lines but also kept my hand in on the mainline.

 

Having now retired from the Police service after 30yrs (something which fewer officers are managing these days due to the pressures of the job) and with more available time (if my list of jobs on the house & garden ever reduces!) my photography trips will no doubt increase and I also intend at some time to start scanning my large collection of slides.

As I work through both my digital & slide collections I will upload them as and when.

 

Thanks to the ongoing Covid lockdowns I’ve started to capture more bird images as we’re limited to local or regional travel. Wildlife has always been the interest to me but something I’ve only really bothered with whilst on foreign holidays. As most birds are small, fast and tend to be over 100m away I’m still in the process of sourcing the best birding lens that suits my current set up so, while I keep practicing please bear with me if I upload a few bird pictures.

 

All the images on my profile are my copyright so please don’t copy or use any of them without first seeking permission. It will very likely be granted as I believe if I’m putting it on Flickr I’m happy for anyone to look at it.

 

Enjoy and feel free to comment especially if we’ve met in the distant past and you’d thought I’d given up or perhaps as someone recently commented “I thought you’d passed on” 😉.