Finally got a chance to head out for a walk today. It’s been a couple of days – I’ve simply been pretty swamped at work lately, which has kept me inside for most of the time. Oh, well, gotta pay the bills. Anyways, I got out at my usual time and headed for Mill Cove in Ledyard, CT this morning. Today I wanted to shoot a little digital, and a couple frames of black & white on the Speed Graphic. I got my wish.
I got to Erickson Park just as NR-2 was reporting to the Worcester dispatcher that they were about 20 minutes out of the sub base. Perfect – that gave me time to set up a shot with the Speed Graphic, but this time I’d use the tripod. Something that is completely unheard of when I’m shooting digital, unless it’s dark.
I set up down by the boat launch again to try to refine the shot I took earlier in the week looking north, and to get a shot of the train going away from me. So I got everything set up, and waited for the train. While waiting, a swan was having a little breakfast nearby, so I took a couple shots of him.
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It didn’t take long after that, though – a couple minutes later NR-2 was reporting that they were south of MP-5, so I got ready. I made sure the shutter was cocked, the dark slide was removed, and the film was properly wound.
A couple moments later, a rumbling started rolling down the river towards me, followed by the horns of a GE. NR-2 made their appearance a the north end of the cove, so I grabbed a telephoto shot with the digital.
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Then to the Speed Graphic my eye went. As soon as the train hit the spot I wanted, I tripped the shutter, and heard the subtle click. A quick look down, and I confirmed that I didn’t forget to remove the dark slide. Yay! A quick pan to the south to prepare for the train going away from me, and I got another quick digital of the trailing unit.
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Then back to the Speed Graphic for the going away shot there. Another click of the shutter and the train slipped into the tree line at the south end of the cove. Dark slide back into the Graflex back, and time to head back to the car.
I did end up catching NR-2 along the Thames River drawbridge, but I only took shots with the Speed, so those will come probably over the weekend, or whenever I take the remaining 4 frames on the roll. So that’s it for today – from there I headed back to the office for the remainder of the day.
Thanks for looking!
Tom
