Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

30 minutes ago, LNER4479 said:

Now then Tony. Is that you being deliberately provocative again? You at least need to define what you mean by 'best' ... which is distinctly different from 'prolific'?

 

W J V Anderson is right up there in my view. And there was a certain clergyman from Wakefield who was no slouch with the shutter either.

Good morning Graham,

 

Is it something in my style of writing/commenting that make (some) folk think that I'm (always) being provocative?

 

I wasn't being provocative at all. I did say one of the best railway photographers, and I think Colin Walker was. My saying that doesn't diminish the status of the other 'bests'. In terms of technique, 'Bill' Anderson is unsurpassed in my view. Bishop Treacy is also (rightly) highly-regarded (though some of his captions are 'interesting'). Colin Gifford also springs to mind, though some of his captions are nothing more than a single word. 

 

I count it a privilege to have chatted with Dick Blenkinsop, and he gave me some prints of photographs he'd taken in the vicinity of Little Bytham on the day SIR NIGEL GRESLEY achieved the post-War steam record. Would that other photographers were so diligent (myself included) in their contemporary note-taking for the future writing of captions. 

 

The list of 'great' photographers could be very long, though I do put (correct) captioning as being as important as the picture quality. Hence, most of my books (including many by Eric Treacy) have lots of scribblings in the margins (as do those of Colin Walker).

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

 

 

 

[Tony Wright]

7 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Hugh Ballantyne, too.

 

The talent of all these (and many more) shines through all the more because most of them were using what, by modern standards, was quite modest hardware.

 

Post WW2 trade limitations meant it was very hard for non-professionals to obtain state-of-the-art equipment.

 

John

Good morning John,

 

At times, Colin Walker used a wooden press camera, with glass negatives of considerable size!

 

Derek Cross used a Linhoff. 

 

Eric Treacy Used a Leica, as did Keith Pirt.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by Tony Wright
to add something

[rowanj]

Ian S Carr- my old Geography master..

[Tony Wright]

Expanding the photo topic (in a provocative way?), the 'best' pre-digital camera for taking real railway pictures? 

 

In my experience, the Pentax 6x7, with a photomic head (with a Nikon F a close second if 35mm is used). Not only did it give me unsurpassed quality, it also allowed me to enter the competition of 'The World's Most Perfectly-Ruptured Man'! 

[Bucoops]

8 minutes ago, rowanj said:

Ian S Carr- my old Geography master..

 

Michael J Collins was a teacher at my secondary school.

 

He taught amongst other things, photography.

Edited January 16, 2023 by Bucoops

[uax6]

I'd put  R D Stephen in the list too. Working in the 1920's with what must have been huge cameras, his photos are a great resource for Scottish modellers of that era.

 

Andy G

[LNER4479]

36 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning Graham,

 

Is it something in my style of writing/commenting that make (some) folk think that I'm (always) being provocative?

 

 

 

 

Perhaps 'provocative' wasn't quite the right word. 'Impish', perhaps? Because, by your own admission, you do enjoy a good argument.

 

FWIW, I have read several of Colin Walker's 'trails through ...' books, the Grantham one being an invaluable reference in the early days of working on the Grantham layout. I have also read 'Main line lament'. The latter book stands out as it is well written and there's barely concealed emotion behind it which makes it a very engaging read.

 

But that's a different thing from the actual images being technically '(one of) the best'?

 

I would also add the name Stephen Crook into the list of 'one of the best' photographers of the BR steam era.

Edited January 16, 2023 by LNER4479

[Dunsignalling]

3 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good morning John,

 

At times, Colin Walker used a wooden press camera, with glass negatives of considerable size!

 

Derek Cross used a Linhoff. 

 

Eric Treacy Used a Leica, as did Keith Pirt.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Certainly a good many older (often looted) Leica (and Contax) cameras were "casually" imported during and after WW2 and were much sought after by keen amateur users. However, draconian restrictions on importing new gear remained in place (for balance of payments reasons) right up to the early days of SLRs.

 

Many of our noted names used "8-on-120" Zeiss Ikontas (there was a similar Agfa folder) or fixed lens 35mm cameras from Kodak and Agfa. 

 

John

 

 

[Tony Wright]

5 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Certainly a good many older (often looted) Leica (and Contax) cameras were "casually" imported during and after WW2 and were much sought after by keen amateur users. However, draconian restrictions on importing new gear remained in place (for balance of payments reasons) right up to the early days of SLRs.

 

Many of our noted names used "8-on-120" Zeiss Ikontas (there was a similar Agfa folder) or fixed lens 35mm cameras from Kodak and Agfa. 

 

John

 

 

An uncle of mine brought a Voightlander 8-on-a-120 folding camera back with him from Germany post-War, and 14 years later gave it to me when he thought I was 'mature' enough to use such a thing. My earliest railway photographs were taken with it (some have been published) but years ago the shutter jammed and the bellows had developed a light leak. It has a lovely lens. 

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[BMS]

Assuming that it is not a requirement for thhe photographs to have been taken on the ECML etc,

I nominate SJ Rickard and from a different era HT Hobbs

 

A facinating forum!

[SD85]

44 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Certainly a good many older (often looted) Leica (and Contax) cameras were "casually" imported during and after WW2 and were much sought after by keen amateur users.

 

 

 

Can attest to the 'provenance' of such cameras. One of the few wartime stories my grandfather passed on concerned his time in Berlin just after Germany had surrendered (he was ground radar operator on bomber squadrons during the war and the Allies presumably required as many logistics people as possible to fly stuff in and out of the newly occupied city). Looting by the Allied forces was something that went on. My grandfather distinctly recollected a camera shop being ransacked; he personally felt sorry for the owners and only took a couple of cheap roll film cameras (presumably it would possibly have been regarded as strange amongst his colleagues not to take a souvenir) but he did apparently say that other folk were just walking in and helping themselves to the premium Leica cameras on the shelves.

[robertcwp]

Norman Preedy and John Cooper-Smith took lots of great photos in the immediately post-steam era, when many other photographers had given up. I now own some of Norman Preedy's images. He refused to photograph units, though.

[Pacific231G]

3 minutes ago, SD85 said:

 

Can attest to the 'provenance' of such cameras...... My grandfather distinctly recollected a camera shop being ransacked; he personally felt sorry for the owners and only took a couple of cheap roll film cameras (presumably it would possibly have been regarded as strange amongst his colleagues not to take a souvenir) but he did apparently say that other folk were just walking in and helping themselves to the premium Leica cameras on the shelves.

It's worth looking up the "Leica Freedom Train" to see a different and very positive aspect of the Leitz family who owned Leica. The name came up at a meeting of my French railway group yesterday as one of us has just added to his collection an original Leica camera- something he could never afford when they were current. The Leica was of course Cartier-Bresson's camera of choice and I rather wish certain visitors to model raiway exhibtions would heed his comment about flash photography being "impolite...like coming to a concert with a pistol in your hand."

I never had anything so grand but my first proper camera was a Kodak Retinette with a surprisingly good lens for such an inexpensive camera. I think the railway photos I took with it (long lost) were about the best I ever took helped I think by its inherent simplicity.

 

 

[Keith Turbutt]

I don't think Dr Ian C Allen has been mentioned yet. He was a GP based at Framlingham and took many photos of East Anglia - an area not very well covered by other photographers except perhaps Dick Riley. It was also an area to loose steam very early so not many steam colour photos. He published a number of books showing his work. Unfortunately he did not keep very good records of his photos such as dates and locations.

 

My meagre photography was done using my dad's Agfa Silette 35mm which I could borrow provided I had been on my best behaviour! Unfortunately, although I used a light meter I set the exposure based on the ambient light when I should have gone down a few stops for darker ie dirty locomotive subjects. It took me quite a while to realize  what I was doing wrong. Hence many of my photos are under exposed. I guess these days they could be digitally enhanced.

 

So returning to an earlier thread re Tudor Minstrel here is my effort taken at Dundee Tay Bridge August 1965.

I think the three A2s 60528/30/32 were kept reasonably clean but I'm not sure how much work they had by that time. 

 

I could occasionally get it almost right but that ws more by luck!

Thornton Junction 1965

 

I also wish I had done more lineside photography such as this one taken departing Coupar Angus in August 1966 on a Aberdeen Glasgow service which I had travelled on .

Edited January 16, 2023 by Keith Turbutt
added location Thornton Junction 1965

[melmoth]

I'd like to put a word in for Ben Ashworth. His "BR Steam in Dean" is far more interesting than you might imagine if you'd been told that every steam locomotive in it was a pannier tank.

[Killybegs]

Just to celebrate page 2822!

 

[Northmoor]

I'll get in my photographers nomination for Henry Priestley and from the post-steam era, the entire membership of the Phoenix Railway Photographic Circle.

 

Colin Gifford is for me, the finest of all but while I agree with Tony that the captions are "brief", it's because (I think he would describe himself as such), he was a photographer first and a railway enthusiast second.  The image had to be judged purely as a photograph, rather than being an historical record of a particular occasion; however as a record of locations in Britain at that time, many of his images are probably unsurpassed. 

[MJI]

I have these books full of colour photos.

[Tony Wright]

2 hours ago, Northmoor said:

I'll get in my photographers nomination for Henry Priestley and from the post-steam era, the entire membership of the Phoenix Railway Photographic Circle.

 

Colin Gifford is for me, the finest of all but while I agree with Tony that the captions are "brief", it's because (I think he would describe himself as such), he was a photographer first and a railway enthusiast second.  The image had to be judged purely as a photograph, rather than being an historical record of a particular occasion; however as a record of locations in Britain at that time, many of his images are probably unsurpassed. 

Each A Glimpse is a quite outstanding volume on railway photography.

 

I accept that the image was 'all' to Colin Gifford, but I wish he'd given a little more detail in the captions. 'Stockport' isn't much help if one is contemplating a model of what's in the image. Where, yes. But when? And exactly what?

 

Still, we can just rejoice in the splendid imagery.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Tony Wright]

Wibdenshaw was mentioned recently as being an outstanding model railway........

 

 

I agree. 

 

I just wish I'd had more opportunities to photograph it. 

 

 

[robertcwp]

3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Wibdenshaw was mentioned recently as being an outstanding model railway........

 

 

I agree. 

 

I just wish I'd had more opportunities to photograph it. 

 

 

One of my favourite layouts with lots of interesting trains and very high quality modelling.

 

[robertcwp]

The recent comments about captions are interesting. Colin Gifford was at one extreme, although some of his books did include dates. At the other extreme, I have recently read a new book of very high-quality photos from a well-known but now deceased photographer. The compiler has written extensive captions, most of which are either waffle or complete rubbish, or both. I pretty much gave up on them towards the end of the book and just looked at the superb images, much as I would do with a Colin Gifford book.

[New Haven Neil]

9 hours ago, melmoth said:

I'd like to put a word in for Ben Ashworth. His "BR Steam in Dean" is far more interesting than you might imagine if you'd been told that every steam locomotive in it was a pannier tank.

 

There's one prairie!

 

But yes, a fantastic collection of atmospheric photos that caused me to dump US HO and go FoD in O!

[westerner]

Same here.

[Woodcock29]

TG Hepburn and Keith Pirt for a later period for me.