Sometimes Life Throws You a Curve

Whenever we are out for a weekend on one of our shooting trips I try to get up before sunrise.  I learned sometime ago to appreciate the special lighting conditions and opportunities that occur only when the light level is low and soft that happens at sunset and sunrise.

On our most recent outing to Lavic, CA, on BNSF’s Needles Subdivision, Lappy woke us up because he needed to go outside.  The time was 4:15 AM. Perhaps a tad bit early but I didn’t want to chance it and oversleep so I got up.  I cleaned up, got a little something to eat, and put on ample layers because I knew it was going to be cold outside - and it was.

It was still dark when I got outside but the sunlight was making a discernable streak in the eastern sky.  The weather continued to be as excellent as it was the day before.  There was little to no cloud cover and no wind at all, but is was cold, very cold.

I began to assess the location, its accessibility and scenic features.  Little need to analyze the color was required because the darkness stripped away all but several shades of blackness.  My hopes were for an opportunity to shoot an eastbound train lit by the rising sun but it would also be cool to get a westbound train silhouetted against the dawn.  I picked a spot that afforded me an opportunity to get a shot of a westbound or an eastbound train and began to gather my gear.

I recalled hearing trains passing our location all night as we slept and I was worried that one would come before I was ready so I franctically yet methodically worked to get everything ready.  Eventually I was ready.  My camera was mounted and my tripod leveled and securely positioned.  My video camera was  also in place and fully charged.  The sun was beginning to rise as the eastern sky began to glow.  I was filled with anticipation.

I was ready and my gear was ready.  The skies were beginning to develop into a canvas of promise.  There was only one thing missing for a railroad photographer, the train.  So I waited.  And waited.

Did I mention that I waited?  Because I did.  I waited and I waited. And then I waited some more!  Where were the trains?  No clue.  All I knew was I in place, ready to shoot, and the moment was perfect except there was no subject in the frame.  Such is the life of a railroad photographer, I thought.  Unlike a landscape photographer, we are dependant on the presence of a train in order to fulfill our desire to get the perfect shot.  None was seen, or heard at all.

The sun began to reflect off of the rails and highlighted the eastern edge of the curve that was before me.  I took this opportunity to create a rail-related scene without a train.  I compose the shot and reviewed the results.  I missed.  The lighting was all wrong.  I adjusted the settings on my camera and proceeded to shoot the sun rising over the curve.

I like the shots that I took, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t help but think about what the shots would look like if a train had been there.  Perhaps I would have emphasized the train too much and missed the moment.  I’ll never know for sure.  Maybe next time I’ll get the shot that I had hoped for. 

Deb, let’s go out again! 

Sunrise Curve 3

Sunrise Curve 1

Sunrise Curve 2

Sunrise Curve 4

Expand Your Vision

I love cool technology. On occasion I come across some great designs or devices that fill a niche in my photography or railfanning workflow. Today I discovered a link to a device from NewerTech which allows you to put up to six monitors on a Windows PC and up to four monitors on a Mac. It is called USB Video Display Adapter and is bus-powered and includes everything needed to hook-up a DVI, HDMI, or VGA monitor. Cool.

This means that I might be able to hook-up a bigger monitor to my netbook out in the field to make doing photo edits easier and also allow for more screen space for an ATCS Monitor session.

Steel and Stars

I, obviously, enjoy chasing trains and one of my favorite locations is the BNSF’s Needles Subdivision which runs through the Mojave Desert from Barstow to Needles, California.  My wife, Deb, loves star gazing and all things astronomy-related.  It is a good mix because we both seek the same destination but for different reasons.  I love the landscape and the volume of traffic on the Needles Sub and she loves the dark sky found far from city lights.

This past week we took a three day trip out to Sand Hill and Hector, CA to chase steel and stars.  It was a very fun trip.

Normally I would shoot photos only during the daylight hours and casually star gaze with her at night.  However, this time I choose to try my hand at taking some night shots.  I discovered it was challenging and very fun from a creative perspective.

The photo at right is one of the photos that I took that night at Hector, CA.  It was the end product of five or six attempts to capture what I saw in my head.  I wanted to use her Sony DSC-H50 to explore it’s capabilities instead of my Nikon D50. 

I set the camera to “M”(anual) mode and chose the maximum exposure time available of thirty seconds and the smallest aperture.  With the camera tripod mounted I pressed the shutter release button.  While the camera was taking it’s thirty second exposure I shined a flashlight onto the track to balance it’s exposure with that of the stars.

It turns out that five seconds of light was what I finally used to created the exposure above through trial-and-error.  I like the photo very much because it exemplifies both Deb and I exactly, Steel and Stars.  I also like the fact that it was not a “planned” photo.  I was trackside in a dark sky with a camera and a flashlight and was willing to experiment.