Frank Fidler starlight express

Welcome again to the Nightscape Photographer featured image, today’s feature image above is by Erik Van Oost and is titled Frank Fidler Starlight express. 

There is quite a story behind this image and the truck that is featured in it, huge thanks to Erik Van Oost who has not only allowed us to feature this fantastic image but also put in a tonne of effort chasing up the history for us and sharing a lot of detail about the image capture.

PHOTOGRAPHER

Erik Van Oost

LOCATION

The image was taken at the transport museum Hall of Fame in Alice Springs.

EQUIPMENT USED TO TAKE THIS IMAGE

The image was taken with a Fujifilm XT-3 with a Fujinon 16mm F1.4 lens.

Small hand torch brand: Alone Fire: XM-L2 – with 1/2 205 orange CTO gel attached.
I used 2 continues lights Z96 with a 3200 video filter on it.

Tripod: Leofoto LS-284C 4 Section Carbon Fiber Tripod with LH-30 Ballhead

SETTINGS USED

For the foreground (truck) a variety of settings were used for multiple images.
Most of the frames when light painting with the torch were taken with a 15 secs shutter speed, F5.6 and ISO 400 . I used continues light for the trailer for multiple frames using between 10-25 sec shutter-speed, F4.5 – F5.6 and ISO 320 up to 500.

The night sky portion was taken with a 20 sec shutter speed, F2.4 and ISO 4000. 12 of these images were taken and stacked in Starry landscape stacker.

My white balance setting was 3800K
Post processed in Lightroom and Photoshop including the blending of sky and foreground image together.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE SHOT

In this picture you see a road train, previously owned by Frank Fidler, he used this truck to transport cattle from various cattle stations to Alice Springs

In November 2019 I was at Adelaide Airport waiting for my flight to the Netherlands. Because of the 8 hour change over time I went to the bar in front of the Airport. After a while 2 people approached me who were playing pool. They invited me to join and we got talking, they had been on holiday and were now waiting for the flight to Brisbane.

I told them I was in Alice Springs for a few months and in my free time I like to do some night photography and showed them some of my work, they really loved it.

When I told them where the pictures were taken the lady told me that in the same museum there was a truck owned by her grandfather Frank Fidler. I told them when I come back I will locate the truck and try to make a nice picture of it.

When I got back to Alice Springs I wanted to create a special photo and took way too many pictures to get the light painting right. Normally I take about 40 pics in total, use about 15 of them and blend the image in photoshop with the lighten blending mode. But with this trailer, and the many corners of this road train and different materials I took more then 100 images. The trailer gave me a lot of headaches because the wood absorbed the light and I had to adjust my settings multiple times, I also had to refocus regularly because the trailer was so large.

It took me quite a bit of time to position the camera the way I wanted it because the museum has lots of trucks and these are all parked very close to each other, the angles are limited. But I eventually found a position I was happy with.
In total it took about 1.5 hours to get all the pictures. I also photographed the truck from the other side but I liked this picture the most. All up it took 3 hours for 2 images!

HOW DID ERIK GET ACCESS TO THE MUSEUM AT NIGHT?

In may 2019 my partner and I arrived in Alice Springs, we had been traveling around Australia since 2016 in a caravan. Being a bit travel tired we decided to stay the winter in Alice Springs, found ourself a job and a good spot to stay.

Because we were staying longer in the one spot I decided to print out some pictures I made around Alice Springs. Out the back of the transport museum are a few truck outside the gates, perfectly in line with the night sky and milky way,  I took a few shots,, post processed them and printed them out. Amazed with myself and the quality of the images I decided to go to the transport museum to show the staff. They absolutely loved them and offered to display them and sell them at the museum.

I left the pictures behind, an hour later staff rang me asking me if I had more because they had already sold them. I asked if it was possible to get access into the museum at night and take some more images to create a collection and they agreed. I now often spend nights photographing the trucks and other vehicles in the museum. This has also lead to me volunteering my time at the museum to help keep the place in good shape.

HISTORY OF THE TRUCK – PROVIDED BY THE FAMILY

This info came from Julie’s aunt and husband who were in partnership with her grandfather.

‘Fidler & Clarke’ started in 1969 by Frank & Oriel Fidler and Robert & Oriel Clarke. (Oriel Clarke is the daughter of Frank & Oriel)

As for the truck….
We couldn’t remember when it was first purchased

The truck was most likely build in 1966 or 1967
It’s a White 4000 with a 250 Cummins diesel engine – had 1 valve replaced, the Road Ranger gearbox was repaired 3 times and the differential 1 time.

Robert did the majority of the mechanical repairs to this truck.

It legally pulled 2 trailers on the main roads or close to town, out bush 3 trailers were common (out of sight of the police)
Most trucks of that era were single drive axle – better for the ’station tracks’ Didn’t loose traction as much as bogie or tandem drive trucks

Robert also had a single drive Mercedes truck which was the first in the NT (possibly in Australia) to legally pull 3 trailers on all roads. Laws had to be changed to accomodate this.

They regularly carted cattle, brumbys and camels between stations, to market or the train siding. Regular trips to and from the following stations

– Kuranya Station – (Next to Wolfe Creek Crater) – 944 kms 38 Hour non stop trip Billiluna Station – 880 kms
– Mongrel Downs Station – 600 kms
– Supple Jack Station – 750 kms

– Springvale Station – 1100 kms
– Manguri Railway Siding – 720kms (In South Australia, west of Coober Pedy)

And many other stations.

The main highway and the ‘beef’ road were the only graded gravel road they traveled on, the rest were ‘station tracks’.
Quite often following others wheel tracks or making new tracks, with just a compass for directions. As you would expect it made for slow going. It was not uncommon to take 4 hrs to do 40 kms through poor sections of roads/tracks. If they got bogged, they would have to unhitch all the trailers and tow them through one at a time or pull them through using a steel cable.

Frank retired in 1981 and sold the truck to Newhaven Station in 1982. It was donated by Newhaven Station to the historical museum.

Frank Fidler also has a roadside stop named after him on the Stuart Highway near the NT/SA border.

Frank Fidler history

Frank Fidler moved to Alice Springs in 1947 and started working as a truck driver for Road and Rail carrying freight to stations that were inland from the highway. He would go up as far as Newcastle Waters and then take the Murranji Track to Victoria River Downs, Wave Hill and the many other cattle stations and communities in the area.

In 1950 Road and Rail shifted to Darwin so Frank, wanting to stay in Alice Springs, took a job with Kurt Johannsen. His job was to pick up the ex-WWII 44 gallon drums along the Stuart Highway and military staging camps and deliver these to either Alice Springs or Darwin.

For the next 14 years Frank worked for Jack Litchfield. Initially he carted stores to Hatches Creek and copper from Peko Mines at Tennant Creek. He then travelled extensively in central Australia and across the border into Western Australia. Between Billaluna and Mongrel Downs there was no road so they travelled by compass through the spinifex, at speeds of two to three miles per hour for several weeks at a time. Sometimes station owners, after being contacted by radio would light up some old tyres so Frank and Jack could follow the smoke to find the actual homestead. In 1969 Frank set-up his own transport business. He carted cattle for the pastoral industry, equipment for local mines and fuel and stores for stations and remote communities.

Frank was one of the first cattle carriers to bring cattle from Billaluna and Mongrel Downs into the rail head at Alice Springs. Frank was a real pioneer in cattle transportation. He  passed away in 1999. One can see his old White truck in the grounds of the National Road Transport Hall of Fame where, one day, it will be restored to its former glory. The old girl still runs perfectly whenever its started.

SOCIAL MEDIA

So where can you find more of Erik’s work?

Instagram @erik_van_oost

Facebook @erikvanoostphotography