Railway Photography- Worth Valley and Ffestiniog

Been a little while since the last blog post, which is mainly down to a temperamental internet connection.  Some more updates coming soon, but for the time being, something I meant to post a few weeks ago, some railway photography at both the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Steam Gala, then the Ffestiniog Railway "1863 and All That" Gala, back in mid October.

Keighley was a bit of a let-down in terms of weather- the lighting was poor, which made for some blurry photographs initially.  I therefore gave up trying to do straightforward shots, and just went for more experimental panning shots and zooms.

I thought I'd try artificially ageing one shot with digital filters afterwards, with this loco which the railway had cosmetically weathered to make it look more authentically 1960's.

Then it was literally straight up to Wales for a few days, combining some railway shots with some miniatures pics (more in a separate post) and the "Home is…" photos at the lake, from the last post.  The Ffestiniog gala was a celebration of the introduction of steam power in 1863, meaning lots of vintage trains and other stuff worth shooting pics of.

One of the weirdest trains I've ever photographed, the gravity-powered inspection vehicle, seen in the woods at TanYBwlch.

This is something I'm trying to do again in miniature- first chance I've had to do a tracking shot from a vehicle running parallel.

Poor lighting in the woods led me to doing more experimental shots, trying to create something abstract.

The Sunday featured an impressive line-up of all the vintage locomotives at Harbour Station, with all four surviving 'Englands', so we joined the crowds at early-o'clock to get some shots.

I know I have a reputation amongst some of my fellow railway photographers for taking extremely low-angle shots, but this wasn't the most low-down pic from the day by any means...

And finally, it wasn't all about trains- migrating swans flying over the estuary, and a vaguely arty shot of a Heron in flight from the Britannia Bridge.

Coming tomorrow, a catch-up of the other photography/art/exhibitions done over the last month, whilst we have access to a decent internet connection...