The Art of Composition

Photographer and railway enthusiast Ben Bucki has paid these stunning modelling tributes to the work of the late David Shepherd.

Ben Bucki has paid a stunning modelling tribute to the work of the late David Shepherd.

Ifirst became aware of David Shepherd’s paintings when I was in secondary school and have wanted to try to recreate them for a long time. Unfortunately, my skills with the paintbrush are nowhere near good enough to do them justice, but I thought that, as a photographer, I could try to replicate them with a camera. I’d describe myself as a photographer and railway enthusiast who builds models, rather than necessarily a railway modeller. Most of the model making I do is creating props and background items for photography projects.

Originally I was producing this work for an Open Call art exhibition on the theme of ‘Industry’. I had a very limited budget of about £50, and was

more interested in creating atmospheric effects and the general shapes of locomotives than their exact details, or the building they were in. I chose to create a very basic ‘O’ gauge set that I could turn around in a short space of time. On and off, the project took about three weeks.

The trains themselves (with the exception of a Dapol Class 08, chosen to provide a deliberate contrast as the ‘modern’ item for the intended late-1960s setting) were customised toys and older models, such as a Lima ‘4F’, lightly modified and given a repaint in rusty brown.

The aim of the exercise was to create atmospheric photographs, akin to David’s depot paintings with the shafts of light illuminating the shapes in the smoky gloom.