Saturday, September 27, 2008

Trapped on the Red Line

A few weeks ago while trying to go home from Boston I found myself stuck in Park Street station. There was apparently a disabled train on the inbound side at Central Square and this was causing delays (waiting for a train to come and tow I suppose).

Given the hour and a half I would probably be stuck there, I popped out my Hasselblad to kill some time. It was actually fairly difficult to do much of anything given the amount of light present. I had Portra 160NC and Portra 400NC standing by so nothing particularly fast. Everything had to be free-handed so I did my best to prop my self against...anything to turn my body into a living tripod. Downward pressure on the neck strap also helped if I leaned back against one of the concrete pillars in the station. It actually turned out to be quite fun.

People seemed curious about what I was doing, however not suspicious as far as I could tell. I suppose in the age of compact digital cameras something like a Medium Format Hassie would come as a surprise to someone who had only seen 35mm SLRs and disposables previous. In my experience it's large cameras that draw suspicion and unusual cameras that draw interest/questions. I wonder how people would react to something like a 4x5 field camera... something like a Tachihara.

I would like to improve upon the last picture in this group. It was free-handed on bulb setting while I was standing up. I love the way the tunnel looks though. However I would imagine that the MBTA police would not take kindly if were to go five feet forward into the tunnel with a tripod. Perhaps there's someone who'd I'd have to ask permission?





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