Yesterday, I played Leap Frog with the Union Pacific 4014 train from Atlanta, TX to Prescott, AR. It was a huge train and a huge turnout of people at every crossing. I get it Its a really cool train and who doesn’t love trains. I loved hearing the whistle blow and seeing it pulling into towns. A part of me wishes we could go back to the time when this happed every day instead of a special occasion. There really was something magical about it that transported you back in time. As people poured out, I could almost see business men or farmers coming to the depot to head out or ship their products and women coming out in their best dress to meet a sailor coming back from the war.
Challenges of Getting Photos
However for me, that’s not what this occasion was about. I was there to get some really cool steam engine photos and no one was dressed the part to be in them. So, it turned into quite a challenge just to find places to photograph it without people crowded around. There were so many people on the tracks at each stop and at every road crossing. Almost saw one photographer get smoked by a log truck. I’m pretty sure dude never even looked as he ran across the road in the middle of a bridge in front of a log truck to get a photo as the train ran by underneath. I’ve done some quasi crazy stuff to get a shot before too, but I hope he got the shot because I missed mine looking out for him.
With so many people on the tracks. I didn’t even bother with Texarkana. I skipped ahead, but due to a problem on the track, the train got held up in Texarkana for several hours. I had already moved closer to Falk, AR and had picked out a great spot. By the time the track was repaired, the sun had moved and my location was no longer photo worthy. So, I scouted out another spot further down the track.
Thankfully I met a landowner who allowed me to come onto his private property to shoot from a soybean field. It was only he and a couple of what I assumed to be family members there at the time and I thought I’d found my spot with no one else around. I knew the train was getting close but I got setup and realized that my truck was in the shot. So I ran back and moved my truck. A couple more cars with people were pulling up at this point but I quickly made my way back toward my spot. I could hear the train coming as I ran through the muddy field toward my spot and then looked back to see three yayhoos who had just arrived walking to where my truck had been parked previously. At this point, I had less than 30 seconds to get a shot as the train approached and no time to move or readjust. Thankfully, I was able to photoshop them out, but I hate having to do that.
So what did we learn
- I’m a professional social distancer. People can be so inconsiderate of other people. I’ve been social distancing since before it was cool but this is why.
- It doesn’t matter if you are a hobby photographer or a professional, Always be aware of your surrounding when taking photos. It’s easy to get so focused on getting the shot or watching a scene through your camera that you forget what’s around you.
- On top of thousands of dollars worth of camera gear and thousands of hours learning how to use it prior to this, I spent a whole day, a tank of gas, a few hundred miles to get really just four of what I consider Print worthy photos of the train. So the next time you wonder why photographers charge so much or are protective over a picture, this is why.
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