Matt Blaze
@mattblaze@federate.social
Schuylkill Co-Generation Plant and Arsenal Bridge, Philadelphia, PA, 2018
All the pixels, but no cheesesteaks avaialble, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/42660696454
Post by Matt Blaze
Earlier in the thread
Matt Blaze
@mattblaze@federate.social
This was captured with the Rodenstock 70mm/5.6 HR Digaron-W lens and the Phase One IQ3-100 back. A bit of vertical shift was used to keep everything straight. A 1/2 sec exposure provided just the right amount of motion blur for the passing train.
The power plant generates electricity (now oil fired, converted from coal) as well as steam for Philly's Center City steam loop. The rail bridge extends the former Pennsylvania Railroad's "High Line" into south Philly's Greenwich rail yard.
Matt Blaze
@mattblaze@federate.social
I captured several versions of this, with exposures that kept the moving train sharp or blurred it to varying degrees. I think this was the most successful attempt, with the train blurred enough to suggest motion, but not so much that it's unrecognizable.
Motion can be a central part of a still photograph.
Matt Blaze
@mattblaze@federate.social
Power plants are often regarded as utilitarian eyesores, and are rarely (generally only under public pressure) built to look beautiful or interesting, (London's Battersea Power Station was a notable exception). Generally, like here, any beauty to be found is accidental, a direct consequence of interesting form happening to follow from function.
Replies
Matt Blaze
@mattblaze@federate.social
Arguably, given the health and environmental effects of things like power plants, perhaps they *should* be ugly. But ugliness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
In any case, if you like this kind of stuff, let me strongly recommend the work of Hilla and Bernd Becher. https://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/bernd-and-hilla-becher
Fraenkel Gallery
Bernd & Hilla Becher | Fraenkel Gallery
Bernd and Hilla Becher began photographing together in 1959. Bernd (1931–2007) and Hilla (1934-2015) Becher documented architectural forms for over 30 years