Tag Archives: Railroad

Trip Report – Reading & Northern 2016

Posted on by
3

As I mentioned last week, Lerro Productions hosted a two day photo charter in February on the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern featuring their steam locomotive, Reading & Northern 425.  This was the railroad’s first real photo charter and by all accounts, it was a very successful trip.  The first day featured snowy weather and took us from Port Clinton to the Lehigh Gorge and then back to Jim Thorpe for a night session.  The second day started in Lehigh Gorge and then back to Port Clinton.  While it rained almost the entire second day, the rain hitting the snow created an awesome ground fog which made for some interesting photos.  Here’s a few of my favorites:

Glen Onoko Rock Cut

Independence Bridge

Tamaqua Tunnel

Independence Signals
Lehigh Gorge - Independence Signals

Jim Thorpe Station

Hunter Street Tunnel

King Coal

As always, the Lerro Productions crew put on a great event and the railroad put on a great show. Hopefully this is the first of many charters on the Reading & Northern.

Through The Lens 25 – Photography Lesson

Posted on by
Reply

While killing time before the night session on the Reading & Northern photo charter I attended in February, my friend Matthew challenged me with a photography lesson. His instructions were to “take an interesting blurry photo.”  After struggling for a bit I came up with this – an out of focus train with snow flow streaks in focus. Both parts blurry but in a different way.  I think it works pretty well. Thanks again for the lesson, Matthew!

Stop by Tuesday for the Reading & Northern trip report.

Through The Lens 23 – Winter on the Western Maryland Railroad

Posted on by
Reply

Here’s another one from my railroad photography trip this past February.  This time we’re at the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad for a Lerro Productions photo charter, the last one with Locomotive 734 to go all the way to Frostburg due to a recent landslide on the line.  Hopefully scenes like this will be possible again soon.

Through The Lens 21 – Reading & Northern Railroad

Posted on by
Reply

Last week, I attended a two day photo charter on the Reading & Northern Railroad hosted by Lerro Productions.  The weather was an interesting mix of cold and snowing on Monday and slightly warmer and rain on Tuesday creating opportunities for shots with great atmosphere. Above is one of my favorites from the event.  Look for a more detailed trip report in a couple of weeks.

Through The Lens 19 – Steam in the Snow

Posted on by
Reply

The Narrows

Here’s a favorite of mine from a winter photo charter a few years back at the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad. The weekend started with cloudy weather which turned to heavy snow later in the day. Sunday morning brought clear skies and some amazing light, especially for this shot of 734 in the Narrows early in the morning. With 3 days of photo charters on two railroads next week, I’m hoping for similar conditions and hopefully some good images.

Trip Report – Cass Photography Workshop 2015

Posted on by
3

Last fall, I attended the Cass Photography Workshops, hosted by Walter Scriptunas II and Clayton Spangler at the Cass Scenic Railroad State Park.  Walter and Clayton put on a great workshop filled with many different types of photographic opportunities ranging from details to human interest to trains, plus some classroom instruction on photo editing.  As usual it was a fun event and one I’m looking forward to attending again.
Saturday started with the traditional three train race and triple header runbys:

Later in the day we did some human interest shots on one of the company house porches and in the jail:

Saturday evening ended with a night shoot at the water tank featuring both broad scenes of the locomotive and tighter human interest shots:

Sunday started with a trip up the mountain in the fog.  The Pocahontas Supply Company truck made an appearance at Back Mountain Road crossing and a hunter and his hound posed for us at Gum Road crossing.

 

Since I was heading to the Great Smoky Mountains Monday morning, I stayed in Cass Sunday night allowing time to catch the Whittaker train at the second bridge:

 

Clear skies Sunday night created opportunities for the Milky Way shots around the Mill Ruins that had alluded the group on Saturday night:

Thanks again to Walter and Clayton for putting on a great workshop and to the folks at the Cass Scenic Railroad and The Cass Scenic Railroad State Park for hosting us.

Through The Lens 1: Cass Scenic Railroad in the Fall

Posted on by
5
Shay 4 rounds the bend at the bottom of the Whittaker S Curves
Last October I attended the fall edition of the Cass Photography Workshops hosted by Walter Scriptunas II and Clayton Spangler at the Cass Scenic Railroad. Walter and Clayton put on a fun event with a good mix of classroom teaching and shooting opportunities. If you’re in the Mid-Atlantic region, consider attending next year.If you’re not, find a workshop near you. If you haven’t attended one before, they’re a lot of fun. I always enjoy seeing how others shoot the same scene and find that it helps me be more creative on future shoots.