By Larry Hypes
Contributing Writer
RADFORD – The Radford Photo Club got a “training” session last week at the Radford Public Library.
Kenneth L. Miller, Chief Archivist of the Norfolk & Western Historical Society and editor of The Arrow, the organization’s quarterly magazine, presented an overview of photographic highlights of the railroad.
Beginning with Engine No. 17, first locomotive in Roanoke in 1884 and continuing though the 1980s, when the N & W merged with Southern Railway, Miller entertained the RPH members with insightful comments on decades of rail photographers and their techniques as well as a concise history of the N & W’s growth through the Roanoke Vally and beyond.
“A great presentation,” noted club president Tracy Burlingame. “From the decades when glass negatives were used to modern digital methods, we got an ‘inside look’ at how so many railroad pictures were produced.”
Miller told the group, “It is amazing how many of these pictures were ‘one shot’ photos where the photographer simply had one attempt. We can judge their ability and their confidence in part from that fact. Today, a photographer might shoot multiple shots and certainly in previous decades we might have expected whole rolls of films to be used.”
He told the group about how Kodachrome color film, introduced in late 1939, changed presentations and how lighting on different sides of the track and various times of day were essential to getting the right shot.
“One feature that you will notice is that not many photos show smoke pouring from the locomotives,” Miller said. “Pollution became an issue and also railroad procedures outline how to ‘fire’ an engine more efficiently so that the smoke was kept to a minimum when at all possible.”
The assembled photo club members, with modern cameras and knowledge of current tools, got a quick reminder of how the “old timers” made adjustments.
“Before Photoshop and the computer progams available today, the work in the N & W photo laboratory was vintage skill, to be sure,” said Miller. “For example, a great angle on the perfect setting could be enhanced by taking an Exacto-knife and/or a razor blade, removing trackside items like a telegraph pole or an equipment shed and then very carefully putting the shot back together so skillfully that the change would never be noticed. Very impressive work.”
“What impressed me most was the great detail in the photographs going back into the 1800s that was maintained throughout the various techniques developed through the years,” said club member Joyce Sims.
“Ken’s presentation was a wonderful blend of rail history, pointing out so many aspects of photography from angles to shadowing and more,” added attendee Jane Andre.
Miller, with a grin, told the group – and showed examples – of varying light, noting, “The great work of O. Winston Link is well known, but many N & W photographers took ‘night photos’ before Link made the technique famous.”
The audio and video presentation, completely composed by Miller, focused on knowing where to shoot pictures in addition to subject selection and audience interest. NWHS director Doug Andre assisted with the production.
