Cajon Pass in HDR - Crossing Over Cajon Style

While seeking the sunrise shots at I wrote about it the post entitled Sleepless Summit Sojourn Seeking Sunrise (I couldn’t resist!) in Cajon Pass I caught a couple of westbounds. Those opportunities offered a backlit train and shimmering rails - a long time favorite shot of mine. 

Here is a series of photos of one westbound BNSF stack train that is crossing over at the summit crossovers from track #3 to track #2. Typically, because of the different grades on each track, trains use reverse running over a good portion of the run over the Cajon Subdivision. (Reverse running is akin to driving on the wrong side of the road - like those crazy Brits do!)

Crossing Over 1 - BNSF 5095 West rounds a curve at Summit, on BNSF’s Cajon Subdivision. It will crossover from the track #3 to track #2 at the bottom crossover.
[9/12/2010 - Cajon Subdivision] © Copyright 2010, Joe Perry

Crossing Over 2 - BNSF 5095 West crosses over from the track #3 to track #2 at Summit on BNSF’s Cajon Subdivision.
[9/12/2010 - Cajon Subdivision] © Copyright 2010, Joe Perry

Crossing Over 3 - BNSF 5095 West crosses over from the track #3 to track #2 at Summit on BNSF’s Cajon Subdivision.
[9/12/2010 - Cajon Subdivision] © Copyright 2010, Joe Perry

Cajon Pass in HDR - Sleepless Summit Sojourn Seeking Sunrise

Back on Spetember 12, 2010, I had trouble sleeping. I laid in bed unable to get back to sleep. As I replayed a scene from Apocalyspe Now, the one where Captain Willard is laying on the bed and just staring at the ceiling fan, yeah that one. Round and round and round the blades go…

I decided to make use of my restlessness and gathered my gear together. I was going to try and catch a couple of sunrise shots. As I got dressed and packed up, I thought, “Where should I go?” After checking out the sunrise times and azimuth, I decided that the railroad summit of Cajon Pass could offer the scenery and opportunity that I sought. I made the requisite soda (I am a huge Diet Pepsi fan!) and breakfast run, I jumped on the freeway bound for Cajon Pass.

After all was said and done, the trip was fun and fruitful. Here are some of the better shots from the trip:

Cajon Summit Predawn
[9/12/2010 - Cajon Subdivision] © Copyright 2010, Joe Perry

Cajon Summit Sunrise 1
[9/12/2010 - Cajon Subdivision] © Copyright 2010, Joe PerryCajon Summit Sunrise 2
[9/12/2010 - Cajon Subdivision] © Copyright 2010, Joe PerryCajon Summit Sunrise 3
[9/12/2010 - Cajon Subdivision] © Copyright 2010, Joe PerryCajon Summit Sunrise 4
[9/12/2010 - Cajon Subdivision] © Copyright 2010, Joe Perry

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon

A week or so ago Deb and I took a brief road trip to Arizona. During our trip I took as many HDR photographs as the scenery and time permitted. One of the first stops we made was to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Since we were traveling at night, Deb had the idea to see if we could catch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon in HDR. Thanks Deb, what a great idea!

We drove straight there and arrived at nearly 3:00 AM, which negated the park entrance fee interestingly enough, and proceeded to Yavapai Point, our chosen location. After getting throughly confused and lost in the park’s spaghetti bowl of a road system, with a distinct lack of signage, we ultimately made it to Yavapai Point just in time.

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Here are my very first efforts at true HDR photography. Let us know what you think. (Click on the images to get a larger view.) 

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:20 AMSunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:28 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:31 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:34 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:47 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:48 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:51 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:52 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:53 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:54 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 5:55 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 6:08 AM

Sunrise Over Yavapai Point, Grand Canyon, Arizona - 6:10 AM