Friday, September 14, 2012

Railroad Photography

Brookhaven, Mississippi 

Above is the set-up shot. Nice huh? All I need is a south-bound freight train rolling by that lovely old Brookhaven station for a great train picture. So I waited.  I had no idea how long I would have to wait, but I wanted the perfect shot that was dancing in my head. I wait some more. A headlight down the track! I get in position, but the locomotive in the distance stops, and then backs up; just a yard engine switching cars.

I wait some more. Finally I see a headlight in the distance and I see ditch lights so I know this is not a switch engine. The crossing guards sound off, and in just a few seconds the train is on me, moving right through downtown Brookhaven at about 60 mph.  I  got off about five frames as the engine roared by.

In the excitement though, I panned on the fast moving locomotive, completely forgetting about the station, so instead of a nice shot of the locomotive passing the brick station, I have an very ordinary shot of a train passing, well, me

Perhaps in your imagination you can put the locomotive below into the picture of the old brick station with the nice clouds. That's all I can do after waiting two hours. By then, rain was approaching so I packed up my camera and headed back to the car forming dark thoughts about the vagaries of railroad photography. Maybe next time.

4 comments :

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    1. Thanks. Trains do tend to be reliably interesting. For one thing, I never expected to see a Canadian National locomotive in Mississippi.

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  2. Sometimes we get caught up in the excitement and forget what our objective was, but still two nice shots

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    1. Thanks Don, and I agree. In the rush and the roar and excitement of that big locomotive bearing down on me, I completely forgot what I was trying to do. Next time I am in a situation like that, I will put the camera on a tripod, frame it up and stand by with the remote release in my hand.

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