15C Photo Gallery
About Me
A few bits of information about me, my photography, my interests and this website:
Introduction
My name is Jason Cross and I am based in Leicester (UK). By trade I am an
engineer, but in my spare time I am interested in railways, tramways and
photography. I spend much of my free time taking pictures of trains
or trams, and occasionally other non rail related subjects too.
The Name 15C
I named the website 15C as I wanted a name for the site that did not include
my own name but reflected my locality and a railway theme. I therefore settled
on the name 15C as this used to be the shed code for Leicester Midland shed.
The Aim of This Website
Being a keen photographer, this website is a showcase for my work. Most of
the photographs here are of trains or trams, but there is room too for other
subjects. I see a lot of photographic websites that contain a high number of
poor quality images, where no attention has been paid to lighting or
composition, and I
would hope that I can avoid my website falling into this category. For that
reason, I try to ensure that the pictures that I add to the site meet a certain
standard (see 'My Photography' below for some idea of what I consider to be a
certain standard).
Don't get me wrong, my photography does not reach perfection, but I do try to
aim it vaguely in that direction. There are plenty of pictures on my site that I
consider to be of dubious quality, most of these are older pictures that have
been added because they contain a subject that can no longer be photographed.
Hopefully these older pictures also prove to illustrate that I have at least
been trying to improve my photographic skills over the years.
My Photography
Full sun, on the nose and at a good angle to the subject. That's how I like
it and that is how I take most of my daylight photographs. I also try to refrain
from 'zooming' up too much and I like my subject to be part of a scene rather
than dominating the picture. Some other photographers may find this approach to
photography a little boring, but it is
how I like it and although this may sound a little bit 'pig headed', I take my
photographs to please me. I put a lot of effort into my photography, and there
is little point doing so if I am not going to enjoy looking at my own pictures.
I do of course hope that other people enjoy looking at my photographs too and if
they do then that makes taking them even more
rewarding.
I would never claim that my photographs are perfect, and as my own worse critic
I often find myself looking over my photographs searching out aspects of the
picture that are perhaps not quite how I intended them to be or looking for
things in the photograph that I could perhaps have handled better. I guess I am
aiming for that perfect tram or train photograph, a perfect picture that I doubt
I will ever take, but it's damn good fun trying!
As well as the daytime photographs, I also take a lot of photographs at night.
In a similar fashion to my daytime photography, I like the lighting to be right,
and in the case of night photography, the scene needs to be well lit with nice
even lighting. I also try to adjust the white balance so that whites appear
white, though this is mostly done during the processing stage at the PC.
I set myself all these rules, but the truth is that the photographic rules are
there to be broken. Sometimes great results can come from situations where the rule
book has gone out of the window in the name of 'art'. I'm a big fan of thinking
'outside of the box' with glints, silhouettes and weird angles, but there is a
time and a place for such an approach, and 95% of the time it's front three
quarters for me.
I try not to tell people how they should take photographs (unless someone asks
me for my opinion), though I will very quickly tell people how I would like to
take my own photographs. Everyone should take their own photographs to please
themselves and enjoy the hobby.
Publishing
At one time I used to contribute quite a lot of pictures to the railway
press, but in more recent times I have actually stopped sending pictures unless
I am asked for them. When you are stood in a gallery of photographers at the
lineside for something interesting, you just know that many of them are going to
get home and process the picture as quickly as possible and get them off to the
magazines before anyone else does. In a way, it has become a bit of a rat race
which I can't be bothered to join. As already stated earlier on this page, I am
an engineer by trade, I am not a professional photographer, and therefore I am
not looking to earn money from my photographs. Don't get me wrong it is always
nice for me to see my photographs and my name in print, and if magazine editors
or book authors ask me if they can use any of my photographs, I will usually
oblige. I have also put together some books via the Blurb website and profits
from these are being donated to the Lancastrian Transport Trust. Details of
these books can be found here.
My Railway Interest
I have been interested in trains for as long as I can remember. As a child I
was lucky to have a view from my bedroom window of the Leicester to Peterborough
line not far from Melton Mowbray station. In those days (1970's) the line was
busy with DMU's, loco hauled passenger and plenty of freight. The loco variety
was amazing. Then there was nearby Grantham and Peterborough where I was able to
witness the last years of the legendary Deltics, still my favourite loco to this
day! Despite my wrinkles, I am not old enough to remember steam on BR, but I
have always had an interest in steam traction, I suppose living close to the
Great Central Railway probably helped. In fact, there aren't many railway
subjects that don't interest me - foreign trains, industrial, narrow gauge,
modern traction, steam, diesel, electric and even underground....and then there
are trams.....
My Tramway Interest
My earliest tramway memories are riding on Leicester tram number 76 at Crich,
probably as long ago as about 1975. I had a few early visits to Crich, but it
was Blackpool that really turned my head. I think my first visit must have been
about 1976, and the tramway had a magic that probably stemmed from the fact that
it was the only non-preserved tramway still running in the UK at that time. I
can remember my parents driving through the illuminations and while my mum, dad
and sister were all looking at the lights, my eyes were firmly fixed on the
adjacent tramway looking for the illuminated trams, the Rocket, Western Train,
Hovertram, Frigate and the Blackpool Belle. Of course I also found a lot of
fascination in the other tramcars still in service too, the Balloons, Brush
cars, Twin sets and OMO cars. My only regret is that having made quite a few
visits to Blackpool as a child, after taking up photography, I neglected to
visit other than one trip in 1995. I then went on holiday to the town in 2006
and caught the bug again and have been a regular visitor to Blackpool ever
since. Of course Blackpool is no longer the only town in the UK with a tramway
as several locations now have modern light rail tram systems. It is perhaps
ironic that Blackpool is now following suit and upgrading it's tramway into a 'Supertram'
system. I have enjoyed photographing some of the modern tram systems, and no
doubt I will continue to photograph in Blackpool after the modernisation (though
probably not quite as frequently as I do now).
Photographic Equipment
I started back in the 1980's with a Praktica MTL50. This lasted for about 10
years until it was replaced with a Centon DF300 and a Minolta X300, and these
too were replaced in 2003 by a Nikon F65 which I still have to this day, though
it is currently not used. In 2006 I invested in a Nikon D50 digital SLR after a
few months of experimenting with digital using a Fujifinepix S5500. The D50 was
usually used mounted on a frame with the F65 and I took most shots on digital
and film. Eventually I decided that it was time to go totally over to digital
and early in 2007 I upgraded the D50 for a D80 and ditched the F65. After a
couple of years of using the D80, I upgraded yet again to the camera that I use
today - a Nikon D300. I have a range of lenses (listed below) some of which date
back to my F65. The main one that is used the most is the 35mm f2 prime lens
which I use as my standard lens (with the sensor crop of the D300 this equates
to the 35mm camera equivalent of a 52.5mm lens).
Lenses:
Nikkor 35mm f2
Nikkor 50mm f1.8
Nikkor 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 DX zoom
Nikkor 18-105mm f3.5-5.6 DX/VR zoom
Nikkor 28-100mm f3.5-5.6 G zoom
Nikkor 70-300mm f4-5.6 G zoom
Nikkor 35-70mm f2.8 zoom
Sigma 24-70mm f2.8 EX zoom
Not all of the above lenses are used these days. The 35-70mm zoom has a focusing fault so this lens is in reserve, and the 18-55mm zoom is a kit lens of dubious quality that I got with the D50. It has now been replaced in the kit bag by the 18-105mm zoom which is of much better optical quality. The two G lenses and the 50mm prime all date back to my F65 although all but the 28-100mm are regularly used.
I also use a Relysis digital
projector so that I can continue to present slide shows to railway clubs and
societies even though I no longer take slides. This is something that I have
always enjoyed doing, and digital shows allow me to continue doing so, but with
a few added sound and visual effects.
If you organise slide shows for a club or society and would like me to present a
show to you, then please contact me at the address below:
Forthcoming Slide Shows:
23rd November 2010 - Garforth
Railway Circle
6th December 2010 - Derby Photographic Society
9th December 2010 - Sutton Coldfield Railway Society
EMRPS Photo Charters
Back in 2000, I founded a society called the East Midlands Photographic
Society. Then in early 2001 I organised a photo charter as a bit of an
experiment to see if there was a market for photo charters using diesel
traction. This was a night shoot at the Great Central Railway using D8098 and
D123 and it was a great success. Since then we have organised lots of photo
charters and raised nearly £50,000 towards railway preservation. The reason I
wanted to start organising them was because whenever I have been to a diesel
gala, the photographic results were rarely true recreations. A railfreight
liveried diesel at the head of a rake of maroon mark 1 coaches doesn't really
look right, and why should it, diesel galas are run for the benefit of those who
pay to ride behind the locos. So organising photo charters allows more realistic
scenes to be recreated for the benefit of photographers who in return are making
a valuable financial contribution to railway preservation.
These days I am very well assisted in the organisation and execution of photo
charters by a small but dedicated team of volunteers who have supported EMRPS
photo charters since that first year and to whom I am very grateful. I am also
grateful to all the photographers who have supported the photo charters over the
years, long may this support continue. Probably
the most amusing thing about photo charters is the amount of criticism that I
receive. I am not talking about criticism from the photographers who attend
these events, but from people I don't even know who like to snipe at photo
charters on internet forums. In order to keep this website clean, I won't say
what they can do with their comments, but you can probably guess!
Support
I am a member of the following groups:
East Midlands Railway Photographic Society
Friends of the Great Central Main Line (and holder of a current lineside pass)
Tramway Museum Society
Fylde Tramway Society
TransSupport (Lancastrian Transport Trust)
715 Group (I am a shareholder in preserved Blackpool Balloon tram 715)
