Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

Scrambled images ? Try another SD Card that  maybe the culprit.

 

Suggestions here 

 

https://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/6045/why-do-images-get-corrupted

Thanks Mick,

 

It's not the fact that some of the images are scrambled (similar to those in the link) but what's most perplexing is that perfect images of what I'd taken earlier have taken the place of others taken later - a sort of weird duplication. 

 

I look at the images on the back of the camera and they're perfect. I make a note of the image number on the camera's screen but that same image number on the computer has an image exactly the same as one taken several frames before. I effectively end up with a series of copies, one image being particularly popular. 

 

I've spoken to Andy York and he's not come across this phenomenon. I've given the card to a mate who'll try it in his computer. Andy's going to investigate because the images I can't get might well be needed for publication. 

 

Typically, as is always with the law of sod, the duplicate images were those I was not going to use! 

[coachmann]

Loosing images I am used to on Windows 10. Someone said they are still on the hard drive but a search always comes up 'not found'. I went to my August 2017 folder the other night, send an image to Photoshop and deleted eight unwanted images. When I went back to the folder a few minutes later it had gawn!  I lost 2014 and 2015 images this way.

 

Then today a new symbol I have never seen before appeared on the screen called Paretologic PC health...  I looked at the thousands of images contained therein and I swear many are those I had 'lost'.

Edited August 22, 2017 by coachmann

[APOLLO]

Tony it's either the SD card, Camera, Computer or Software. Change the cheapest one first, the SD card. Cheap as chips these days. I'm no expert but there are different classes SD cards which may or may not be compatible with the rest of your kit, mainly your camera. I had a 64GB card go strange (it was from daughters mobile phone), I replaced it with a 32GB card from ASDA,, a Sandisk, no problems since. I never get near its 32GB capacity, even in the fine mode. (Fuji camera)

 

Filing is VERY important. My old boss at National Grid had us all together one day to fully explain computer filing, important for us as we were planning millions of £ worth of gas main replacement works - many costings, plans etc. A really useful session that was. We used Windows explorer (My Documents), and I still use it today on Windows 10 - nothing fancy really - just make your own folder & sub folders etc and stick to it. Remember a computer stores files alpha-numerically, so I number my photo files like this

 

This PC

Data D

Digital Photographs (the folder that contains all my photos on drive Data D)

2017 0001 Model Railway Loft July 17

2017 0002 Family day out Aug 17

etc etc

 

2017 is the year, 0001 0002 etc is the folder within that year, then a brief description Easy to go back & find files, and they are stored in order.

 

I just download the photos from camera to folder leaving the camera generated file number as is. Enable tile view and job done.

 

MOST IMPORTANT is backup. I back EVERYTHING up on two USB  Seagate Hard Drives. Done in seconds with photos. I back up when I transfer my photos from Camera to Computer BEFORE deleting from the camera. "touch wood" I've suffered no losses these last 20 years of using digital.

 

Not perfect, but simple & it works for me.

 

Brit15

[Tony Teague]

Tony

 

Sounds like SD car corruption; I have experienced this but I got a complete recovery by using a free utility provided by the card maker SanDisk.

It is Called RescuePro and you can download it from the SanDisk website - if of course, your card came from them.

Good luck in recovering your images.

 

Tony

[Focalplane]

Do you remember when we backed up our photos to a CD and then someone asked the question - "How long will a CD last?"

 

Then I think of all my Kodachromes which were attacked by fungi while living in the tropics.

 

Later I was advised to keep film in the fridge.

 

Then film more or less disappeared.

 

Along came a new digital format that meant our standard lenses became portrait lenses and our wide angle lenses were useless.

 

My best lenses predate the digital era but I hardly ever use them, relying on my iPhone instead.

 

Which takes excellent photos, particularly those that make it look like I am 5' 6" above ground level looking up at a Jubilee.

 

It's a strange world, isn't it?

 

 

And I didn't even mention "selfies".

[Tony Wright]

Thanks for all the comments with regard to the 'lost' images. 

 

Digital photography is so universal and easy these days that it really can be taken for granted - unless things (the like of which I've described) go wrong. 

 

In completing my Irwell bookazine on the Class 50s, for the last pictures I took of them (in the early 1990s) I was using a Pentax 6x7 and a range of lenses. Looking through a magnifying glass over a light box, I was astonished at the clarity of the images. Though very heavy, the camera was fantastic to use. Not all progress is superior to what it supersedes.

 

And, the 6x7 transparencies were in their labelled folder - exactly where I'd put them in my filing cabinet, so many years ago. 

[blueeighties]

Thanks for all the comments with regard to the 'lost' images. 

 

Digital photography is so universal and easy these days that it really can be taken for granted - unless things (the like of which I've described) go wrong. 

 

In completing my Irwell bookazine on the Class 50s, for the last pictures I took of them (in the early 1990s) I was using a Pentax 6x7 and a range of lenses. Looking through a magnifying glass over a light box, I was astonished at the clarity of the images. Though very heavy, the camera was fantastic to use. Not all progress is superior to what it supersedes.

 

And, the 6x7 transparencies were in their labelled folder - exactly where I'd put them in my filing cabinet, so many years ago.

 

Ah the Pentax 6x7. A truly monstrous beast. During my time at Jessops many moons ago, when film still reigned supreme and digital hadn't arrived, every weekend I would take something home to play with from the then extensive used equipment stock. I tried them all, Bronica, Mamiya, Hasselblad, and developed a taste for the much higher image quality as compared to 35mm. I settled on a Bronica 6x4.5 ETRSI, for me it was the best mix of practicality and quality. Still hernia inducing along with my spotting kit of 3 lenses and a Manfrotto tripod!

I recently started scanning some of my negatives and the quality is stunning...I have never experienced the full frame digital world and wonder if it's better than old 'analogue' medium format.

[Willie Whizz]

Doing some PC work on our 'Family Trees' at a time getting much modelling done is impractical currently, I have been looking at some 100+ year old photograph prints passed to us by my elderly mother-in law - they are so very old indeed that she cannot recall who all of the people are.

 

And these recent posts on here got me thinking - how many of the photographs we are taking today will survive 100 years  to be passed-on to our descendants, or to rail enthusiasts of the future?

 

All right, digital formats enable me to take literally hundreds of pictures while on holiday compared to, say, a few dozen that the price of 35mm film and processing would 20 years ago; and digital cameras with automated programs and settings ensure that a higher percentage of those I do take turn out to be at least a decent quality ...

 

BUT in 100 years time, how many format changes will there have been from the present '.jpg' etc; and how many of us - and our descendants - will think it worthwhile, or even remember, to convert our stockpile of tens of thousands of images each time there's a change.

 

Digital storage is brilliant for stuff we're likely to need again within a few months or years.  For the long-term, there's still a very strong argument in favour of making and keeping hard copies.

[coachmann]

Ah the Pentax 6x7. A truly monstrous beast. During my time at Jessops many moons ago, when film still reigned supreme and digital hadn't arrived, every weekend I would take something home to play with from the then extensive used equipment stock. I tried them all, Bronica, Mamiya, Hasselblad, and developed a taste for the much higher image quality as compared to 35mm. I settled on a Bronica 6x4.5 ETRSI, for me it was the best mix of practicality and quality. Still hernia inducing along with my spotting kit of 3 lenses and a Manfrotto tripod!

I recently started scanning some of my negatives and the quality is stunning...I have never experienced the full frame digital world and wonder if it's better than old 'analogue' medium format.

I was perfectly content using a Mamiya 645 when friend Roy Dock (ex Editor MRN) showed me his vintage collection of cameras.  "If you call yourself a photographer, go see what you can do with this" as he handed me a neat flat folding 6x9/6x7 bellows camera that would go in my inside pocket. Neither of us knew which little red window to take notice of so i was generous when winding on and got around six 6x9 pictures out of it, two of which found their way into 'Rail'.  Well impressed with the quality, I stupidly bought a one-ton Pentax 6 x 7 instead of crossing Roys hand with silver and keeping the flat lightweight pre World War One camera!

Edited August 22, 2017 by coachmann

[The Johnster]

I was perfectly content using a Mamiya 645 when friend Roy Dock (ex Editor MRN) showed me his vintage collection of cameras.  "If you call yourself a photographer, go see what you can do with this" as he handed me a neat flat folding 6x9/6x7 bellows camera that would go in my inside pocket. Neither of us knew which little red window to take notice of so i was generous when winding on and got around six 6x9 pictures out of it, two of which found their way into 'Rail'.  Well impressed with the quality, I stupidly bought a one-ton Pentax 6 x 7 instead of crossing Roys hand with silver and keeping the flat lightweight pre World War One camera!

 

 

Doing some PC work on our 'Family Trees' at a time getting much modelling done is impractical currently, I have been looking at some 100+ year old photograph prints passed to us by my elderly mother-in law - they are so very old indeed that she cannot recall who all of the people are.

 

And these recent posts on here got me thinking - how many of the photographs we are taking today will survive 100 years  to be passed-on to our descendants, or to rail enthusiasts of the future?

 

All right, digital formats enable me to take literally hundreds of pictures while on holiday compared to, say, a few dozen that the price of 35mm film and processing would 20 years ago; and digital cameras with automated programs and settings ensure that a higher percentage of those I do take turn out to be at least a decent quality ...

 

BUT in 100 years time, how many format changes will there have been from the present '.jpg' etc; and how many of us - and our descendants - will think it worthwhile, or even remember, to convert our stockpile of tens of thousands of images each time there's a change.

 

Digital storage is brilliant for stuff we're likely to need again within a few months or years.  For the long-term, there's still a very strong argument in favour of making and keeping hard copies.

In theory, and it is of course only theory, a digital image can be made to last for, effectively, eternity.  If the format changes, then the longevity of the image is determined by how much loss of information there is in the transfer copying 'save as the new format' process, but even at this stage of the game it can be a very low loss indeed.  Digital photographs, all those drunken selfies, should last more or less forever.  A hard copy will always deteriorate, however; storage discs are magnetic and magnetic fields weaken and change over time.   Any physical manifestation of the image is, of course, subject to entropy like everything else.

 

I will not comment on whether or not this is a good thing...

Edited August 23, 2017 by The Johnster

[Jesse Sim]

Could this be the most British Railway Modelling picture ever????????

 

A bus on a bridge!            

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2017 by Jesse Sim

[Martino]

Ah the Pentax 6x7. A truly monstrous beast. During my time at Jessops many moons ago, when film still reigned supreme and digital hadn't arrived, every weekend I would take something home to play with from the then extensive used equipment stock. I tried them all, Bronica, Mamiya, Hasselblad, and developed a taste for the much higher image quality as compared to 35mm. I settled on a Bronica 6x4.5 ETRSI, for me it was the best mix of practicality and quality. Still hernia inducing along with my spotting kit of 3 lenses and a Manfrotto tripod!

I recently started scanning some of my negatives and the quality is stunning...I have never experienced the full frame digital world and wonder if it's better than old 'analogue' medium format.

Ah, the Bronica ETRSI. I've just been scanning some of my negatives from way back, created in my 'Broni' regrettably of travel and not railway subjects. The quality is simply stunning. The 645 transparencies are much better than my limited photographic skills deserved.

[Bernard Lamb]

Nostalgia.

I used Bronicas and Mamiyas back in the 1980s for wedding photography.

A friend with a 35mm Nikon claimed he could take just as good pictures.

Until I covered a wedding at 3pm on a damp dark November afternoon.

The results showed him why the larger format was far superior.

I had a pin sharp 45mm lens on the Mamiya that could be used fully open for group shots and in this situation was actually better than the standard lens on the Bronica. The discipline of using 3 or at max 4 rolls of film was something that I still have difficulty in escaping from with multi shot digital options that are the norm today.

I have recently tried a full frame DSLR, Nikon D750. While it does give far superior results to the smaller format, certain tasks are a very steep learning curve that I have not yet ,mastered. The options of shutter and/ or aperture priority needing the setting of the controls twice to obtain the best results. Brilliant for architecture , but time consuming.

Bernard

[Hroth]

Proper cameras......

 

When I was going through my "Bigger is Better" photographic phase, which luckily coincided with the growth of professional digital imaging and the decline of film, I managed to acquire some real battleships before the "old, rare" shysters on ebay priced them out of my pocket and before retro came in...

 

For groin-strain inducing hardware consider the Kiev 60, a Russian copy of a Pentacon 6 6x6cm camera in the style of a 35mm SLR which weighs a ton (ok, about 2.2Kg) with its standard lens and prismatic viewfinder, or the magisterial MPP Mk VIII 5x4 inch technical camera, which tips the scales at 3.3 Kg with a Schineider-Kreuznach Xenar f4.5/150mm lens in a Synchro Compur shutter speeded to 1/400s. Fantastic image quality with such a good lens and huge film area, but far too slow to set up and use!  I ditched the Kiev because it was very unreliable, though the images that it produced were good, and got a Mamyia C3 TLR, another porker but it had a film transport that could be relied on!  To go with the MPP I also got a Manfrotto 055 tripod which is equally heavy......

 

My most useful medium format acquisition was again a Bronica ETRSi which was very inexpensive when I got it, together with wide angle (65mm) and portrait (150mm) lenses and the 80mm standard lens.  WIth the metering prisim viewfinder, the wind-on handgrip and a bag full of magazines, it is a quick and easy camera to use and produces amazing images.

 

Since I got them, prices have gone through the roof...

 

Nowadays I point and shoot with a Canon G11 compact camera, its too much faff carting a heavy bag of lenses about, and the tripod is far lighter than that old Manfrotto too!

[Tony Wright]

I was perfectly content using a Mamiya 645 when friend Roy Dock (ex Editor MRN) showed me his vintage collection of cameras.  "If you call yourself a photographer, go see what you can do with this" as he handed me a neat flat folding 6x9/6x7 bellows camera that would go in my inside pocket. Neither of us knew which little red window to take notice of so i was generous when winding on and got around six 6x9 pictures out of it, two of which found their way into 'Rail'.  Well impressed with the quality, I stupidly bought a one-ton Pentax 6 x 7 instead of crossing Roys hand with silver and keeping the flat lightweight pre World War One camera!

I didn't think buying my (two) Pentax 6x7s was stupid. If anything, I wished I'd bought one years before. 

 

My first 'good' railway pictures were taken with a folding camera, the like of which you describe, Larry. It was a Voigtlander Bessa (with a fast tessar lens), and gave 8 x 6x9 exposures on 120 film. It had a 'sports' viewfinder on the top and a fastest shutter speed of 250th of a second. It was handed down to me by an uncle who'd traded it for a packet of fags in immediate post-War Hamburg where he was serving with the army.

 

Though lighter than the Pentax (much lighter!) it was quite limiting. Parallax invariably resulted in a cropped-off buffer or front/rear of the train, and the bellows developed a pin-prick light-leak. I had a metering head for the big Pentax which for transparency work was essential. The Voigtlander needed a Weston meter and an independent range finder for absolute accuracy. 

 

I once had the opportunity of buying a second-hand Speed Graphic and stupidly didn't purchase it. 

Edited August 23, 2017 by Tony Wright

[Tony Wright]

 

This picture was taken with a full-frame Nikon Df using a 55mm Micro lens. 

 

I've included it, not for its photographic merit, but because of its modelling merit. It's Irish broad gauge 3mm scale, where just about everything has to be made by the builder. This loco even has working inside motion! 

 

This was one of the best layouts at the Pickering Show, and it was a joy to see (I hope I can recover some more of the pictures I took of it). I've said it many times before, but layouts/modelling such as this are a breath of fresh air in a railway modelling environment becoming so dominated by RTR/RTP. Personal model-making as well, not just the product of the wallet. 

 

Speaking of personal modelling, and especially the making of valve gear (featured here recently), we had a day in Kendal last Thursday and Mo and her friend went into a fabrics shop. I followed them in (it was opposite a computer games store, so I had nothing to look at there!) and in idle browsing came across a box of sequin and bead (lace) pins. These are made of brass, are 16mm x 0.65mm in size and you get hundreds and hundreds of them for £3.00. These are exactly what I use for solder-assembling Walschaerts valve gear. Recently, it's my experience that they've become more difficult to get. So, without showing bias (I have no connection with the firm), I'd like to pass on the details, please. 

 

The pins are made by Pony # 25202 and they're available from Reticule Fabrics, 11 Blackhall Yard, Stricklandgate, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 4LU. Tel: 01539 729947. E-mail:hello@reticulatefabrics.co.uk  www.reticulatefabrics.co.uk

 

Happy valve gear making. 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Tony Wright

[Focalplane]

I have to admit that my choice of camera was always dictated by my job as a field geologist back in the 1970s.  Much as I would have liked a medium format camera it would have been impractical.  First the weight (considering I also had to carry rock samples in my rucksack) but also the risk of damaging it.  For example, my relatively new Nikon F2, which I still have, was dunked in an Indonesian river many kilometers from civilization in 1975.  I whisked it out and quickly removed the film and dried everything I could there and then with a handkerchief.  Very little water actually got inside the camera and its only electric connections were between the lithium battery holder (in the camera body) and the rather fancy pentaprism light meter head.  As everything came apart for easy cleaning, etc., I was soon able to load a new roll of film and carry on with my day's work.  The camera still works today even though I have never had it serviced.

 

I could not have done the same with my last film camera, its successor the F5.  And I once ruined a Fuji digital camera by tipping a glass of water over it.  Lesson learned, do not put glass of water and digital camera on the same bedside table!

 

Elaborating on the deterioration of my 1970s and earlier slide collection, a tropical fungus (so I was told) is particularly fond of gelatin even in the layers inside a transparency.  I kept my Kodachrome slides in the yellow plastic boxes they came in and this did help to keep the fungi at bay, but 8 years in the tropics without air-conditioning did mean that many slides were ruined.  The Ektachromes in cardboard boxes, as well as the "best" baby photos foolishly kept in a carousel were the most badly damaged.

 

The good news, of course, is that those slides worth keeping have been scanned.  But even here there are troubles looming.  First, my scanner, a very nice Nikon LS2000, only has a SCSI interface, second, Nikon no longer support the software (I use Vuescan now) and who knows how and when the images will last.

 

What I have done is to back up everything to a hard drive and now have elected to use iCloud as well, as an off-site backup.

[Headstock]

There is nothing wrong with buses on bridges. In the case of service 60, pictured below, it was inadvertently placed on the bridge facing in the wrong direction at the recent GC model event. This was a mediately commented on by the Leicester locals and returned to it's proper orientation.

 

Photo courtesy of Chris Nevard and Model Rail.

Shot with some sort of techno photographic device no doubt.

[coachmann]

A brief-ish note on the Pentax 6x7. The larger the format, the shallower the depth of field, so when loaded with 200 ASA colour slide film, it was no good shooting diesels using 500th @ f5.6 when only the loco and leading coach were in focus. I got used to partial-panning which entailed splitting the difference between the subject and the background so that both were sharp. This way I could use 250th @ f8 or 125th @ f11 if the train was not hammering towards me at 70mph. It might look difficult, but if one can get used to a reversed image on a WLF (waist level finder), one can get used to anything. But towards the end of the 1990's, I saw the prospects for digital and made an early conversion away from film stock.

 

Today, my best modelling friend is the digital camera. Only last week I erected platform fencing then took photos before the glue set. When I viewed the images on computer it clearly wasn't vertical but my eye hadn't detected it!  

[Headstock]

Thanks Lee,

 

It was a pleasure to meet you, too. May I please compliment you on the beautiful detailing, painting and (particularly) weathering on your diesel-outline models? They're some of the finest I've seen. 

 

It was remarkable how our conversations were so similar (you surely can't be a grumpy old git). The inexorable rise of RTR, the decline in folk making things, the greater number of 'non-modellers' who have work done for them (for whatever reason), the decline in interest in real railways, the increasing age of the participants in the hobby and so on - but the Pickering show was great fun. My thanks to all those who contributed to making it such a success. 

 

Staly Vegas 02.jpg

 

Along with the 3mm Irish layout, I thought this little N Gauge masterpiece was the best thing at the Pickering Show. 

 

Atso D49.jpg

 

Atso K3.jpg

 

Friend Steve (Atso) brought along his finished N Gauge D49 and K3 to be photographed. Thanks to all those running the North of England Line (another lovely N Gauge layout) for letting me interrupt operations to take these pictures. Steve's little locos are quite outstanding. 

 

Bob Dawson bridge 02.jpg

 

Bob Dawson was at the show, as always, along with grandson Scott. His latest commission for me was this beautiful bridge over the M&GNR on LB. The fee? More pictures for his portfolio - horse-trading is really great! I couldn't wait to get back home, install it and take its picture. 

 

Speaking of taking pictures, has anyone else come across the problem of scrambled digital images? I took many pictures of Staly Vegas (what a great name), and, though they're fine when shown on the back of the camera, loading the card on to the computer results in duplicates of what's already been taken or just a scrambled mess. Bring back the darkroom! 

 

Fortunately, the pictures I took for the Railway Modeller of another N Gauge layout, in Workington last week all worked. 

 

Finally, thanks to all those who've contributed to the thread in my week's absence. I actually took some real railway pictures. 

 

DSC_7603.JPG

 

Taken at Parton on the Cumbrian Coast last Wednesday. Perhaps some railway scenes of today aren't entirely boring. 

 

A superb selection of images, I'm particularly taken with the rendition of the stone work in the four model photographs, fantastic observation. It's nice to see the avoidance of the craze for repointing the mortar of every soot stained building in a townscape.

[APOLLO]

Though I've never been into the technical side of photography my dad was, he was a press photographer for various local newspapers, and also did freelance work.

 

He always said it was the lens that took the photograph. His favorite lens (used on other cameras) was the Zeiss Ikon Tessar lens (if I remember correctly). I still have his 120mm film Rollei & Mamiya twin lens reflex cameras. He gave me a 16 on 120 camera (forgot the make though Voigtlander mentioned above rings a bell) and later a 35mm Agfa Flexilette (twin lens reflex), which took most of my photos on my Flikr site below.. He never favored 35mm, though he used it for "mundane" work where images would be small in print.

 

The "pleasures" (terrors !!) of photography are now long gone. The "middle room" or sometimes the cellar in our house was the darkroom, Loading bulk 35mm film into cassettes, guessing the length !!. Developing them with smelly chemicals, stirring the little knob at the top of the tank, timed by a Smiths clockwork timer that raised the dead when time was up, - then off to the kitchen sink to wash them, hang the negative strips up to dry in a home made cabinet.

 

Printing was worse, 4 grades of printing paper to choose from, "guessing" the exposure time for the enlarger, 3 trays of chemicals - developer, stopper & fixer, all done under a dim red light !! The developer dish was atop a light sealed (insulation tape !!) biscuit tin with a 50 watt bulb inside to keep the developer at temperature !! Off again to the sink to wash the prints while mum was cooking tea. Then onto the two sided glazing machine, when dry edges trimmed & job done !!!!!

 

Digital photography was not even a dream back then - we have it made these days don't we ?

 

Brit15

Edited August 23, 2017 by APOLLO

[blueeighties]

Though I've never been into the technical side of photography my dad was, he was a press photographer for various local newspapers, and also did freelance work.

 

He always said it was the lens that took the photograph. His favorite lens (used on other cameras) was the Zeiss Ikon Tessar lens (if I remember correctly). I still have his 120mm film Rollei & Mamiya twin lens reflex cameras. He gave me a 16 on 120 camera (forgot the make though Voigtlander mentioned above rings a bell) and later a 35mm Agfa Flexilette (twin lens reflex), which took most of my photos on my Flikr site below.. He never favored 35mm, though he used it for "mundane" work where images would be small in print.

 

The "pleasures" (terrors !!) of photography are now long gone. The "middle room" or sometimes the cellar in our house was the darkroom, Loading bulk 35mm film into cassettes, guessing the length !!. Developing them with smelly chemicals, stirring the little knob at the top of the tank, timed by a Smiths clockwork timer that raised the dead when time was up, - then off to the kitchen sink to wash them, hang the negative strips up to dry in a home made cabinet.

 

Printing was worse, 4 grades of printing paper to choose from, "guessing" the exposure time for the enlarger, 3 trays of chemicals - developer, stopper & fixer, all done under a dim red light !! The developer dish was atop a light sealed (insulation tape !!) biscuit tin with a 50 watt bulb inside to keep the developer at temperature !! Off again to the sink to wash the prints while mum was cooking tea. Then onto the two sided glazing machine, when dry edges trimmed & job done !!!!!

 

Digital photography was not even a dream back then - we have it made these days don't we ?

 

Brit15

I used to love watching nice glossy 12x16 black and whites magically produce images in the developing tray. I am so tempted to take a step back into my 'analogue' camera/photography/processsing days!!

[Hroth]

You know, I miss the fun and excitement of real D&P.

 

Even though much of the workflow was to time and temperature, there was still a large element of craft involved in producing an outstanding print.  Producing exposure test strips and estimating paper grade (too muddy? Move up a grade!), burning and dodging was all part of the thrill of seeing what you pre-visualised appear!

[allan downes]

When we were students in Leeds we sometimes went for a pint at the Dyneley Arms at the top of Pool Bank. There was a bloke on the Hammond organ who had the rare gift of making all the songs sound the same, so you could sing along with whatever words you liked and they would fit perfectly.

 

I did the same thing but on guitar instead. Sometimes I'd play with a busted string, sometimes with no strings at all - and once with no strings AND   no guitar.Then one time, even got paid if I promised not to turn up because apparently trade doubled when I was away on holiday. 

 

Allan

[Tony Wright]

I've just spent a really wonderful day in the company of good friends, including two noted railway photographers/authors - Peter Groom and David Percival. 

 

We ran trains on LB and compared notes. Is there any better way of spending retirement time?