We live not too far from the museum and I have been wanting to photograph the old train locomotive sitting on museum grounds just off Lancaster Road. This thing is huge, so just how to photograph it took a little bit of planning and thinking. The engine sits facing south, perched on a little knoll, on a section of track sunk into the ground. It has been visitor-proofed so that people can't climb all over it. I had hoped to get out there at night or early morning with my tripod and try some long exposures, but things kept coming up for one reason or another and I just never got to it. This morning, the weather has turned noticeably cooler thanks to the remnants of hurricane Ike. Skies were overcast with more rain in the forecast and Chris was sleeping after working her last night shift last night, so I thought today would be a good day to play around.
I first tried the AV (aperture priority) on my Canon XSi but wasn't getting anything I liked so I switched to Manual and used the live preview setting. This allowed me to get a better feel for the image as I could simply adjust the shutter speed and/or aperture and see the changes on the LCD screen. The locomotive is painted black and even with an overcast sky, reflections in the glossy paint proved problematic at times. As you can see from the last photograph, even trains are subject to graffiti. I thought it made a nice picture though.
If you like, or even dislike these photographs, please leave a comment below or use the star rating scale by simply clicking on whichever star you like. Boy, retirement is tough!
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