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:
- Lighting: where is the sun? Is it cloudy? What parts of the train will be well-lit? Are there shadows along the tracks that might cause problems?
- Moving objects: is there a chance of an automobile, person, or other moving object coming into my photo at the last minute? Can I compose the photo to avoid this?
- Roof growth: are there power poles or other objects that will be behind the train? Can I compose the photo to prevent a transmission tower from “growing” out of the top of the locomotive?
- Train size: how tall is the train? This sounds obvious, but being able to recognize the height of a locomotive or piece of rolling stock is essential when planning the composition.
Occasionally a gem will appear from a grab shot, but doing a bit of thinking and planning helps one to anticipate the decisive moment.
