As I mentioned earlier, today I received a new lens, the Canon EF 135mm f/2L.
I took a few photos tonight after work and must say I’m happy. Here’s a couple of typical foamer shots… first I caught a westbound manifest coming up to the Wintler crossing:
Finally, Amtrak train 507 approaching the B yard in Vancouver:
A blog for a railway working on a restoration effort on a Shay
My new Canon 135mm F2L just arrived…
In addition to my little cropping experiment yesterday, I also was blessed with this train. Sometimes you get lucky and hear something interesting on the radio. I set up for this guy, and although the light was typical high-noon washout, I like the photo.
I asked for comments yesterday on which crop folks preferred for an off-the-bridge shot.
It was interesting reading the responses. Who am I to say who is correct and who isn’t… but I can share my own observations. I prefer the second photo. I wanted to include the foreground flowers as an element of the photo, so I don’t see them as a distraction. I wanted to minimize the sky, since this really wasn’t a wide-open sky shot. The subtle line of plants leads the viewer to the locomotive, and as noted in your comments, the rule of thirds seems to apply with the locomotive being a bit off-center.
… your AdSense monitor shows $8.44 and you go “Oooh a steam locomotive!”
I routinely browse for railroad-related blog postings on Technorati which is how I found this gem. Looks like some lawyer is all excited about a New York Times piece that found some railroads haven’t been 100% perfect in reporting grade crossing accidents.
I’m not going to excuse the railroads and state they shouldn’t be adhering to the law, but let’s focus the energies in the right direction. Going after the railroads in cases of grade crossing accidents is just plain wrong. Trains don’t kill people, irresponsible people kill people. Grade crossing accidents happen because motorists are in too big of a hurry to follow posted warnings. They can’t wait another few minutes, so they blow past red lights or around gates, get creamed, and then the lawyers go after the ones with deep pockets — the railroad.
How about some responsibility for those who are truly at fault?
Shot yesterday, a new angle from familiar ground… which works best?
I know which one I prefer and will post my thoughts after I hear from you. Comment away!
Al Crespin, urslow on RailroadForums.com, passed away on Sunday.
Al’s smile, sense of humor, and willingness to help will be missed.
Apparently if you write for the Washington Post, you think that trains run on a schedule.
On the other hand, there’s the rest of the country…
Check out the photos over on David’s blog - sounds like a neat event, one which I wish I’d known about ahead of time.
I went trackside Friday at lunch. It wasn’t busy but I caught this unit, which was the first time I’d seen this color/paint scheme in person. I present to you a pair of photos which are nothing special as a photo, but rather just the result of some railfan taking some grab shots:
I posted a few days ago how annoyed I was that there really aren’t many photographic opportunities in the late afternoon in Vancouver. Here’s the evidence:
Doug Plummer has posted a good little piece about the “Decisive Moment” in photography, specifically how to recognize it before it happens.
It got me to thinking about anticipating the moment as it relates to railroad photography. In the examples Doug gives, he is able to spend time thinking about the scene, make an observation, switch lenses or equipment as needed, and then take his photo, often offering up the line of “Please continue to ignore me” to his subject.
Depending on your railroad subject, a similar approach can work. If one is taking photos of a static subject such as a signal, depot, or stopped piece of equipment, then the notion of a decisive moment is lessened and one can take several versions of a photo only to later cull and reveal the best.
If you want to shoot a moving train, there’s only one chance to get the shot. Unless it’s a planned runby, that train isn’t going to back up and come by again, so planning the shot and anticipating the decisive moment is crucial to ensure the best photo possible. Here’s a few of the things I try to think about as I plan a shot… some are railroad-specific, some are more general:
Occasionally a gem will appear from a grab shot, but doing a bit of thinking and planning helps one to anticipate the decisive moment.
My last post marks the 250th entry on Dogcaught since I launched this incarnation of the site last September. For the number geeks among you, I give you all sorts of random metadata:
I have averaged 1.1 posts per day.
There are 109 comments which averages to 0.48 comments per post.
12,236 unique IP addresses have viewed this site.
Top five countries visiting this site:
Ten most popular posts:
Top ten non-search referral sites:
Top ten search strings leading to this site:
Biggest single source of large quantities of web traffic: derailments.
Remember my little after-work Gorge trip last week? I have a souvenir.
Sunday I noticed what I thought was some sort of insect bite. Monday I noticed my insect bite had spread somewhat. By Tuesday I figured out my problem: poison ivy (or oak or sumac). Based on where it is on my arm, and the fact it didn’t show up until four days after my trip, I’m guessing I brushed my camera bag against it and then the oils transferred to my arm over the weekend.
Just a reminder to all: watch out for these plants when out and about.
Last night I thoroughly washed my camera bag to ensure all the oils were gone and avoid a repeat occurrance.
Alternate headlines for this article as suggested by Steve: Railfanning is a Dangerous Activity or Washing the Sack.
Oh, I’ll have a photo update in the next 24 hours or so…
Tonight I went trackside down at Vancouver center after work. What a waste. There is not one decently-lit angle for a photograph in that whole area at all in the afternoon, at least not any angles that I have shot less than a hundred times. The few frames I snapped are so boring and mediocre I haven’t even motivated myself to load them off the card reader.
Sigh. I need to find a new evening haunt that isn’t too far from home…
I guess I’m pretty famous 
I made the newspaper today.
When Portland political candidate Emilie Boyles’ daughter spammed the Northwestrails Yahoo group over the weekend, I chose to break the news that she’s a spammer over on Metroblogging Portland where I’m an author. That set off some discussion in the blogosphere, and yesterday the Oregonian called me to get more information.
This morning, I am quoted in an article at the top of page B2 (about halfway down the second column). You can access an online version of the article.
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So Long Kodachrome: