DA25006 Railway Artist - Rob Rowland V01 260925

Overview

• Name / Title: Rob Rowland, GRA (Guild of Railway Artists) 

• Base: Gloucester (UK) 

• Speciality: Railway and landscape paintings (steam & historic rail scenes) 

Background & Career

• Grew up in the Midlands in the 1950s–60s, surrounded by industrial heritage: cobbled streets, railway viaducts etc. 

• Studied at Gloucestershire College of Arts & Technology. 

• Worked in picture restoration, then as a freelance graphic designer. Later employed by a national brewery doing art/design, including traditional inn signs. 

• He became particularly interested in railway art while working on themes for the GWR 150th anniversary project. 

• Officially became a member of the Guild of Railway Artists in 1987, and he’s been painting professionally since around 1990. 

Style, Subjects & Approach

• His work often evokes historic railway scenes: steam locomotives, old stations, crossings, freight and passenger trains in settings of industrial Britain. 

• Atmosphere and mood are important: twilight, night, mist, crossings, seasonal effects etc. 

• Though real places are often used (e.g. Gloucester, Weekday Cross Junction in Nottingham), there is sometimes imaginative or composite liberty in the scenes. 

Affiliations & Recognition

• Member of the Guild of Railway Artists (GRA) 

• Works exhibited at various railway-and heritage related gatherings, and shows. (E.g. model railway shows, steam festivals) 

If you want, I can find his most important exhibitions, where to see his originals, or catalogues of all his works. Do you want that?

DA25005 Canon Mirror Less Camera Range V01 260825

 Canon has a fairly broad and evolving mirrorless line with different mounts, sensor sizes, and target users. Here’s a breakdown of their key mirrorless offerings, strengths and trade-offs, plus what to watch out for if you’re considering one. Happy to dig deeper into any model if you like.

Canon’s Mirrorless Cameras – Overview

Canon’s mirrorless system is largely built around the EOS R system now (full-frame + APS-C RF mount), though there’s still the older EOS M series (EF-M mount) for entry-level / compact APS-C camera users. 

Here are the main categories:

Line / Mount Sensor Size Target User / Role Key Models / Features

EOS R – Full-Frame RF mount Full Frame Enthusiasts, professionals, hybrid photo/video shooters Models like the EOS R5, R6 II, R3, etc. Strong autofocus (Dual-Pixel), high speed, in-body image stabilisation (IBIS, in many), 4K/8K video, rugged bodies. 

EOS R – APS-C RF / “crop-sensor” APS-C Those who want smaller/lighter bodies or more reach (for wildlife, for example), or budget-friendlier gear Models include EOS R7, EOS R10, EOS R50, R100. These offer many of the newer RF mount advantages (AF, faster burst, etc) in more compact form. 

EOS M – EF-M mount APS-C Entry-level users, travel, casual/compact use Models like EOS M50 / M50 Mark II, EOS M200, etc. These tend to have smaller lenses, lighter bodies. But gradually Canon seems shifting growth focus to the EOS R system. 

Strong Points of Canon’s Mirrorless Range

• Autofocus performance: Canon has put a lot of effort into its Dual Pixel CMOS AF / AF II systems. Good eye-tracking, subject tracking, reliable performance especially in video/hybrid use. 

• Lens ecosystem growth: Especially RF mount lenses are very strong, with both wide aperture primes and versatile zooms, and many “L” series lenses for pro use. Also EF lenses can often be adapted. 

• Hybrid usage: Many models are good at both stills and video. They support 4K (and in some cases 8K), good stabilization, fast burst modes, etc. 

• Variety / scalability: Whether you’re a beginner, enthusiast, or pro, Canon has options. Good to “grow into” the system.

Limitations / Trade-Offs

• Size, cost for high end: Full-frame RF “L” lenses are often big, heavy, and expensive. If you move up in the range, the investment gets significant.

• Battery life: As with many mirrorless cameras, battery life tends to lag what you might get in comparable DSLRs, especially under heavy video or continuous shooting.

• Heat & video constraints: In very high resolution / long video shooting, heat management can be an issue (throttling, etc) in some models. Not all cameras are equally capable in long continuous recording.

• Older lens/mount complexity: For those with EF/EF-S lenses, you’ll need adapters; while these work well, there are sometimes compromises (size, weight, possible slight performance hits) depending on lens. Also the EOS M (EF-M) line is less emphasized now, so lens options there are more limited compared to RF.

Some of the Latest / Notable Models

• Canon EOS R5: High resolution, strong video capability, pro features. Great pick if you want top-end full frame. 

• Canon EOS R6 Mark II: Slightly lower resolution than R5 but very capable, often more “balanced” for many users. 

• Canon EOS R7: APS-C model with strong speed and features, good mid-range “hybrid” body. 

• Canon EOS R10: More affordable APS-C, good option if you want lighter / smaller but still good quality. 

• Canon EOS R50 & R100: Entry / beginner models – they trade off some features to be simpler, lighter, cheaper. Recently there’s been the R50 V which is video-oriented. 

What to Think About / What to Decide First

When choosing a Canon mirrorless, here are some key decision points:

1. Sensor size (Full frame vs APS-C)

• Full frame gives better low light, shallower depth of field, often wider angle of view for same focal length.

• APS-C gives more reach (telephoto equivalent focal length is larger for given lens), lighter/cheaper bodies and lenses.

2. Lens system

• Are there lenses you already own (EF or EF-S) that you want to keep? If yes, check adapter compatibility.

• Future investment: RF glass is excellent but premium pricing especially for top optics.

3. Photo vs Video balance

• If you’ll shoot a lot of video (vlogging, events), check features like frame rates, overheating, 4K/60, IBIS, video-oriented interface & ergonomics.

• If mostly stills, perhaps priorities are burst rate, buffer size, dynamic range, high-ISO performance.

4. Ergonomics, size, weight — how portable do you need it? Do you often carry gear all day?

5. Budget both for body and lenses — sometimes a cheaper body with expensive lens ends up more costly.

If you like, I can compare a few Canon mirrorless models side by side (price / specs / what they’re best at) to help you choose one. Do you want that?

DA25004 Tim Burton Classic - Corpse Bride V01 190925

 

Dead romantic: Victor Van Dort and his undead lover, Emily

Corpse Bride (2005) 
PG, 77min
★★★★★

How good was peak Tim Burton? How prolific? He made this stopmotion heartbreaker in east London while shooting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at Pinewood and Johnny Depp starred in both.

“He was Willy Wonka by day and Victor [from Corpse Bride] by night,” Burton said. Some saw Corpse Bride as a sideshow to Charlie, but this animated musical is a moving tale of love and loss that has only gained in stature.

Depp’s Victor Van Dort is the guileless heir to a 19th-century fishing empire whose marriage to winsome Victoria (Emily Watson) is upended when he accidentally proposes to the ghost of the murdered Emily (Helena Bonham Carter). A crackpot love triangle ensues, featuring singing skeletons and the voices of Albert Finney, Christopher Lee and Joanna Lumley. There are witty nods to Gone with the Wind and German expressionism, and the “real world” is drab while the undead land is neon-lit. It’s close to perfect.
UHD and digital from Mon

DA25003 Railway Art V01 190925

 

William Powell Frith’s 1862 painting The Railway Station

Next image ›

Yes, I remember Adlestrop. I mean, I really do remember; I’m not just quoting Edward Thomas’s immortal poem for effect. On the train to family holidays in Worcestershire in the early 1960s we would pass through what was then surely the world’s most famous village railway station, tragically shut not long afterwards and now demolished.

Although, unlike in the poem, I don’t recall the train stopping “unwontedly” for me to hear “all the birds of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire”.

OK, that was an old fogey being nostalgic about trains — and if you can’t stand that sort of thing you had better disappear abroad for a fortnight as there will be an awful lot of it about. Why? Because on September 27, 1825, the first passenger train pulled by a steam locomotive made its inaugural journey between Shildon, Darlington and Stockton in northeast England. And the 200th anniversary of that historic moment — the birth of the modern railway — is being marked by an incredibly wideranging celebration (see railway200.co.uk).

The journey itself is being recreated using a newly restored replica of George Stephenson’s Locomotion No 1 over three days (Sep 26-28). On the original trip an entire brass band crammed on to one carriage, supplying music along the 26-mile route. The bicentenary celebrations aren’t short of entertainment either.

There will be new murals on trains and in stations, a specially created dance piece and a nighttime “ghost train” installation “reimagining” locomotion with illuminated carriages, music, projections and fireworks.

BBC Radio 3 is also going rail-tastic with an all-day broadcast (Sep 27) from a train travelling between Inverness and London. Let’s hope the broadcasters get a better internet connection than I usually do on trains, otherwise there will be quite a few Pinteresque pauses in the programme.

Meanwhile Simon Armitage, the poet laureate, has written a poem, The Longest Train in the World, to mark the bicentenary.

It’s rather good. At the start you think it’s a description of that first journey in 1825. Then gradually you realise that Armitage is evoking the whole history of railways, ingeniously condensed into about 250 words. In his final lines he captures the delight that this invention — by an engineering genius, Stephenson, who came from the humblest background and was illiterate until he paid to go to night school at 18 — is still advancing after 200 years. “We waited to clock the last guard’s van swinging its red lantern,” Armitage writes, “but that didn’t happen: rounding the globe coupled nose to tail to nose to tail that train was two centuries long and still counting.”

Of course, all this nostalgia about 1825 also prompts less charitable thoughts about what has happened to railways in our own time — a dismal story, especially if you live in the north, where railways began. It’s hard not to make grim comparisons between the speedy way those early 19th-century pioneer transformed travel across the nation — 6,000 miles of railway built in the 25 years after 1825 — and our era’s pathetic attempt to build a single high-speed line between London and the north.

The railways are ingrained in Britain’s very soul 

But let’s not spoil the birthday party with these mournful observations. What’s always fascinated me about railways is how they have ingrained themselves into the culture, indeed the very soul, of Britain.

They surely stand second only to the sea as the most fertile source of inspiration for artists, writers, film-makers and musicians.

Let’s consider some of the masterpieces they have inspired.

This year Art UK held a poll to ascertain the public’s favourite railway painting. I was expecting the winner to be Turner’s 1844 canvas Rain, Steam and Speed, conjuring a train (or, some critics say, the onslaught of modernity) hurtling out of the mist on Brunel’s audacious Maidenhead Railway Bridge, constructed only five years earlier. In fact that came second, beaten by Eric Ravilious’s Train Landscape, where you glimpse a chalk white horse in a distant hillside through the window of a third-class carriage.

But my choice would have been William Powell Frith’s mid- Victorian canvas of the bustling crowd at Paddington station — a real “all of life is here” sprawl of a painting.

In this bicentenary year we should also have polls of Britain’s favourite railway films, music and literature. Some classics would be candidates in several genres.

Think of John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps and its various adaptations, all featuring that tense manhunt on the Flying Scotsman; or the Harry Potter books and the near-mystical role of the Hogwarts Express; or Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children, which has spawned two films, four TV adaptations, several plays and Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new opera at Glyndebourne.

And I wonder what the Rev W Awdry would have made of seeing his ubiquitous creation, Thomas the Tank Engine, making a guest appearance in Grand Theft Auto V?

For me, however, the hardest category to judge would be railway poetry. Such glorious examples to consider: Philip Larkin’s The Whitsun Weddings, tracing a train journey full of newlyweds and ripe metaphors; Thomas Hardy’s disturbing At the Railway Station, Upway, depicting a boy travelling alone at night; TS Eliot’s Skimbleshanks: the Railway Cat, written (like the opening of Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony) to imitate the repeated rhythm of a train itself. Or maybe WH Auden’s Night Mail, with its accompanying newsreel set to music by Benjamin Britten. It’s on permanent loop at the Postal Museum in London, and mesmerising.

Not every poet was enchanted by railways. In his furious On the Projected Kendal and Windermere Railway, Wordsworth speaks for every nimby of every era when he asks: “Is then no nook of English ground secure from rash assault?”

And Edwin J Milliken uses the railway as a metaphor for civilisation hurtling towards disaster in his most famous poem: “Who is in charge of the clattering train?” A question, one senses, on many minds right now.

Any other obvious contenders for best railway poem? Well, don’t all write in. I haven’t forgotten Adlestrop.