by Steve Eshom on July 19, 2011
One of the big reasons to travel to Eastern Washington in June is the sun. June tends to be cloudy and gloomy west of the mountains but east the sun is usually out this time of year. Add in the fact this spring was historically cool and damp and there is a great motivation to head into the scab lands for some trains in June.
On Friday of the trip we experienced some of the best sun all year. As we sat at Beatrice and let the trains come to us the sun, clouds, and sky conspired to form an almost a painted scene. Thanks to the cool, wet spring the wheat was still green and lush making what looks like a green carpet. A great location to photograph one of the many manifests headed to Pasco for classification.
Eastern Washington is also a wonderful place for sunsets. With no trees blocking the horizon it is easy to enjoy the very last moments the sun appears above the earth. Add in a few of the leftover clouds from the day and it can be a wonderful scene. We sat at Keystone from the late afternoon and into the evening enjoying wonderful train traffic and a great sunset!
by Steve Eshom on March 27, 2011
Robert Scott invited me to join him and some friends in the Columbia River Gorge for some waterfall and railfan photography yesterday. I enjoy both waterfalls and railfanning so I said yes.
The morning was quite dark and wet which was perfect for photographing waterfalls. Even light is a great thing when working around waterfalls so the morning weather was perfect though a bit wet. We visited numerous falls and then introduced Robert’s friends to railfan photography. Two of the three guests jumped on the opportunity and started making some interesting photos. The third was struggling to understand how to treat a train as a primary subject. I think that is totally understandable if you don’t have a passion for trains and railroading. He made the best of it though as we photographed other things like the church at Maryhill, Stonehenge Memorial, and a few other falls.
The rain and dark conditions continued into mid-afternoon when the skies broke up a bit. Of course as the light became more interesting the trains stopped thanks to a bad frog at Home Valley on the BNSF. Just before sunset the trains started to break loose and I found myself on a viewpoint above Cooks. When I initially set up for the photograph shown below the light was more even and the snow capped mountains in the background stood out beautifully. Not two minutes before the train showed up everything changed drastically. The sun popped out from behind the dark clouds and all but obscured the mountains. I almost gave up on the photo because the mountains I admired had mostly disappeared. I shot the 6 image pano anyway and figured I might be able to make something of it.
The rest of the group was at the S curve east of Home Valley. My light good fortune was their misfortune. Not 2 minutes before the train arrived at their location the beautiful sun I saw went away and they were left with the flat light I was planning on. Such is the luck of the draw when photographing in the Spring.
by Steve Eshom on March 15, 2010
On the first days of our desert adventure we visited Tehachapi. Tehachapi is one of my favorite locations because everywhere you look the railroad is interesting. If I lived nearby like our friend Darren, I’d love it because there is so much to see and photograph. I’d love to be able to spend the time to wait for the right light for some of the unusual locations on the pass.
We were quite fortunate to find the grass green below the loop so we spent some time chasing the variable light and the green grass. The results were spectacular! In the photo above from Bealville the hills in the background demonstrate how the light was quite hit and miss. 30 seconds before I snapped this photo the entire south switch area was shadowed. Then wham, out comes the sun!
I really had to keep my eye on things as the light changed so quickly. The next photo is the same train passing the NSS Cliff and within a few seconds the light would again change but fortunately everything held up and the train and hills were lit just right.
Sandcut is the site of many a fabulous sunset photographs and despite that this is my first visit to this location in 4 tries. Sadly timing of the the train traffic didn’t support a perfect sunset photo. Instead I had to settle for this photo of the H-EVEBAR leaving Bakersfield and heading for the hill under a sky that saw sunset about 20 minutes before.
I’m ready for Tehachapi again soon!
