I spent most of my summer finishing up some
Army training, so I didn’t have a chance to take any pictures for a couple
months. Now that I’m back, I continue working on taking better and better
pictures.
Before this summer, my style of railfanning
was to pick a section of track that was paralleled by a highway and cruise
back and forth until I found a train. I’d get ahead of the train where
ever I could, and shoot a picture. But I was never satisfied with the quality
of my shots. I judge my own work by whether or not I could see it in a
magazine, and with few exceptions I never could.
I’m not sure what made me realize what I
was doing wrong, but I finally figured out that to get good shots, I had
to pick my spot before the train got there. I also looked at some of my
better (lucky) shots and analyzed what made them good. I realized that
the train needs to stand out as the subject, and the background must be
subdued. I used to try and cram too much into one shot, and I ended up
with a picture that failed to draw the viewer’s eye to the main subject.
Now I cruise up and down the tracks until I find a place that will make
at good shot, keeping in mind the background and lighting. Once I find
a place that will look good with a train there, I wait. It takes a lot
of patience, but I have noticed a BIG improvement in my work since doing
this.
Now I don’t claim to be a good photographer,
but I am finally starting to get some good shots. I’ve also gotten encouragement
from people that have seen my work on the internet, and that helps a lot.
I created this website to share my better shots with the world.
I’ve decided to make it a point to go on
one major railfanning outing a month, so it seems like a good idea to write
down a narrative of each trip. My first trip since getting back was up
Oregon Highway 58, to railfan UP’s Cascade Line (formerly SP). I’m making
that my August trip, and the narrative for that can be found here.
My September trip was along BNSF’s former Spokane, Portland & Seattle
main line along the north bank of the Columbia River, in Skamania and Klickitat
Counties. The narrative for that trip will be posted early in October.
There are many places in the Great Northwest
that I can go to railfan, but I am restricted by time and money (gas, film,
developing). In the coming months, I’ll probably revisit places I’ve already
been. Luckily, different weather conditions and different trains should
make each trip interesting. I hope you enjoy my stories as well as my pictures.
Please take the time to email any comments you have on my site.
~Mike~
