I took my camera and tripod to work one night in 1974 as a Vancouver trolley bus driver. This is a photo at the old (Chilco Street) Stanley Park Bus Loop with a 1948 Brill trolleybus. 

In the background, and through the bus, you can see the Stuart Building, which was illegally demolished at 4 am a few years later. To obtain this shot, the camera was placed on the tripod, and the shutter was locked open. With all the bus lights turned off, the bus was originally parked at least a bus length further back. 

The reason for all the sparks is this was a passing wire in the loop that was rarely used, and so the metal curve segments on the trolley wires oxidise, and if you power through them you get some great sparks. I pulled the bus forward, created the sparks, and parked it, turned on all the bus lights, and continued the exposure long enough to capture the image of the bus. But not for too long, as I wanted the Stuart Building to show through. So it was a single exposure, although it looks like a "double exposure". I used a Konica Autoreflex 2 camera with Kodachrome film. The loop had incandescent street lights.
I took my camera and tripod to work one night in 1974 as a Vancouver trolley bus driver. This is a photo at the old (Chilco Street) Stanley Park Bus Loop with a 1948 Brill trolleybus. In the background, and through the bus, you can see the Stuart Building, which was illegally demolished at 4 am a few years later. To obtain this shot, the camera was placed on the tripod, and the shutter was locked open. With all the bus lights turned off, the bus was originally parked at least a bus length further back. The reason for all the sparks is this was a passing wire in the loop that was rarely used, and so the metal curve segments on the trolley wires oxidise, and if you power through them you get some great sparks. I pulled the bus forward, created the sparks, and parked it, turned on all the bus lights, and continued the exposure long enough to capture the image of the bus. But not for too long, as I wanted the Stuart Building to show through. So it was a single exposure, although it looks like a "double exposure". I used a Konica Autoreflex 2 camera with Kodachrome film. The loop had incandescent street lights. | Click image for Comments. | Home | Browse All Photos