Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Steaming 41st

Two photos from a birthday treat trip to Swanage coinciding with the annual steam gala, with several Pullman carriages hauled up and down from Swanage to Corfe Castle throughout the day.
Since they came complete with bar carriages, this hit quite a few of my favourite pastimes - steam engineering, drinking, music (of which it was mostly rocky) and being by the sea .. mix in a couple of good friends and a jolly spiffing time was had by all.

Top shot - loving the pitted texture of the mechanical parts, as if carved from granite, with the wispy steam swirling around in such a great way I couldn't help but crop right in on the details (cropping out more of the wheel - which was good too, but sacrifices must be made).

The second shot is obviously a lot more picture postcard .. feel free to print out and post to your grandpa.

I guess it's worth noting that the distinct lack of me sneaking out of work to photograph passing steam trains has been somewhat halted this year, since one of them overshot a red light early in the season and they had their license to run on the local tracks removed.  I'd like to moan about health and safety ruining the fun, but that's pretty serious on the main line between Bristol - Bath - London!  I just hope they get it back for 2016 ...


Steam driven engineering
ISO160, 160mm, f/5, 1/160s, -0.7ev, cropped square, over-sharpened, levels

Steam locomotive at Corfe Castle November 2015
ISO100, 35mm, f5.6, 1/100s, cropped, levels, curves, saturation adjustments (green down)