The photographer

The photos on this website were taken by Graeme Bickerdike, a professional Yorkshireman who had his diplomacy circuit disconnected after signing a contract to produce videos for RSSB (Rail Safety & Standards Board) in 1998. Recent attempts to recommission it have proved fruitless.

Graeme isn't really a photographer as you'll gather from some of the pictures. His working life got underway in 1984 when he joined the BBC as a trainee cameraman - a cause of much disappointment to his father. He left in 1988 - a cause of much disappointment to his mother - and has since plied his trade as a freelancer, initially in news and documentaries. For the past 15 years though he has largely covered sport - football, horse racing, ice hockey, boxing, cycling, badminton and a whole load of other stuff, for the BBC and Sky Sports.

His prickly association with the railway industry took his career in a new direction. Having been initially engaged to provide safety materials for the on-track workforce, he developed a practical knowledge and understanding of the issues involved. This resulted in him leading work to improve and simplify the communication of track safety rules. In 2007, he was rewarded for his efforts with the IRSE's 'Wing Award for Safety'.

As well as looking after two other websites (see the links at the bottom of the page), Graeme is now Production Editor of the rail engineer - a monthly magazine covering railway infrastructure projects and product developments.

Camera equipment used

'Thrify' is Bickerdike's middle name, driving his investment in three Sigma zoom lenses - a 10-20mm wide angle, a 18-55mm standard range and a 70-200mm telephoto. Judging by independent technical reviews, these lenses seem to perform favourably when compared with their Canon equivalents.

All the photos were taken with consumer digital cameras: four Canon SLRs (300, 400, 450 and 550) as well as two point-and-shoots - Canon's Powershot A520 and Panasonic's Lumix DMC TZ3.

Laziness prevents the use of a tripod unless the subject is dark or the photographer is legless.

The photographs

All the material on this website is copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Four by Three. You can get in touch via the Email Us link in the footer.

The software

The software used to display the gallery pictures is called Highslide JS and, for non-commercial websites, is available as a free Javascript download from...

highslide.com

Its look and feel can be fully customised.