Steve Knight

I was born in south-west London and grew up next to Mortlake level crossing on the SR Windsor lines. I had no option but to become a train nut! A family move to Basingstoke in 1966 allowed me to witness the dying days of SR steam, including being on the platform at Basingstoke for the last run by Elder Dempster Lines – my Mum was friends with the Deputy Station Master’s wife! Sadly, I was only 6 at the time and did not yet have a camera.
My first pictures were taken at Birmingham New Street of the last runs of Westerns back to Paddington. I have Western Ranger and Western Empress on film from that period, taken on a humble Instamatic 126! I quickly learned that I needed a better camera and, having hardly any cash as an impoverished student, bought a second-hand Zenith E when I went to college in Birmingham. It was, naturally, terrible, but taught me a lot about exposure control and metering as everything was manual. As soon as funds allowed, I upgraded to a Nikon FG 20 and got a zoom lens too. I had lost touch with railway photography at this point and spent most of the 1980s photographing aircraft instead. I went from the Nikon to an EOS1000FN, which travelled all around the world with me, including Poland and South America, where I was able to get up close with working steam. Moving to digital, at first with a Nikon Coolpix (still keeping the SLR) and then going for DSLR with a EOS10D and then a 20D, I upgraded to a 70D about 5 years ago. In 2022 I made the big switch to mirrorless with a Sony Alpha 7C compact SLR and Sigma convertor ring to accept my Canon L series lenses. It is a revelation! I wish I’d done it sooner.
You can see much, much more by visiting my Flickr stream at www.flickr.com/photos/kitmasterbloke

Steve Knight, Halstead Essex

All images in this gallery © Steve Knight