I was told many years ago…when I first started to railfan…that, one: Always take a camera with you…and two: take pictures not only of that train/locomotive going by…but also of the signal bridge…the old depot…the trestle etc etc…well here is an example…I took this in 1981. Its of an old ATSF water tower… I thought it would have been up there for a few more years…but when I went back in the late eighties it was long gone…how does the expression go?..you don’t know what you’ve got, until its gone…?
While I agree it’s a good idea to get those pictures of things that will not always be there, I don’t nessasarily agree that you must always carry a camera. Sometimes I just like to relax and enjoy the show or chase without worrying about lighting, composure, ect. for takeing pictures. But that’s just how I feel.
Chad, I agree with you and I am the same way when it comes to relaxing and photographing. I personally, find out that whenever I want to get on the train or walk a couple of blocks to relax and railfan, is when something really rare and unusual comes through, and guess what…I don’t have a camera! So, I always bring it with me whenever I go out railfaning. There are sometimes when I’ll only use it on the important things.
Not only taking pictures, and not just of trains. An important thing to remember is to caption your pictures. Don’t trust your memory to recall the "what, where, and when of your pictures 20 years later. You may not even be the one looking at them to recall this. I just went through this when I tried to caption my parent’s photo albums. Fortunately, I started the project before they passed away. Most of them, my sisters and I would never have been able to add the detail my Mother and Father did.
You guys without the cameras, beware. As sure as the sun rises tomorrow morning there will come a day when something astonishing will happen on the rails and you will regret not having that camera. Out in Calif. it will be the SP daylight with its colorful consist backing into the santa Fe Depot in San Diego and you CSX guy in Philly, it will be the PRR E-8s of a passenger consist with the newly repaired 1361 PRR K-4s at the other end coming into the upper level of 30th St Station. Never go near a train track without a camera.
Good point Tom, I am finding this out too…I use to take rather copious notes…but then all of sudden stopped doing that in the mid eighties…now I am at a loss…trying to remember the who/what/where etc…fortunately on other forums…there are some railfans helpful enough to recall specifics etc…based on a pic I may post…
Documentation is the key, make some notes, but do it so your memory will key on the event in 15 years, when the photos fall out of wherever they happened to have been stuck. It is great to have lots of photos, but it is crazy when you cann not remember the why, the where and the when. Especially when you get to the age that even a wheelbarrow of ginko-biloba everyday won’t help.
Well…I usually have at least 3 cameras with me…2 digi’s…and one film…sometimes 2…you can never have enough cameras!!! =)
(I usually have a Canon 20D, a Fuji S7000, and two Ricoh XR-P’s)
And last note on this subject…with digital, you at least have “Exif Data”…on the image you shot…which has helped me alot in the past couple of years…since I went to the darkside!
A thing I did with this album that may be useful in all photo collections: I scanned all the pictures into the computer, added the caption to the picture file, then saved them as a .jpg file. It’s a common format that can be opened on any computer, and having the caption as part of the same file as the photo, the possibility of them getting separated is near nil.
Remember, you can never have TOO much info in a photo caption.
i just got a ‘new’ digital camera, although not terribly fancy it was pricey enough. once i figure it all out i’m going to need some help posting a picture or two on here. lol
99 times out of 100 though, i’m without a camera. in fact the only time i did take one with me is when the 261 came to Bureau Jct. IL a couple years ago. good pix for being a disposable. [B)]
I agree wholeheartedly. You don’t have to get it out, or consider the lighting, but it’s a lot easier to have it along and not use it than it is to live with yourself for missing that magic shot…
I almost always have a camera in the truck with me (for fires, as well as trains). If I don’t, it’s because I took it in the house to charge or download and forgot to put it back…
Regarding cameras (and handguns): “I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.”
Actually, I always keep a digital in my truck. By being in the right place at the right time a few times over the years, and keeping an ear tuned to my scanner (trains, police & fire), I’ve earned enough from selling news photos to buy a half-dozen cameras. Shooting digital helps because I can email the pic in minutes to the local newspapers – and not wait for processing and printing.
yes the wishing i would have started sooner as those chessie units were just rolling past everyday.what i find ironic is the city is interested in saving items from a depot soon to be demolished because of a fire last summer. why didnt they do more to save the depot instead?
stay safe
Joe
Definitely correct. More time needs to be spent documenting cars, structures, right-of-way, train schedules…however, I’d guess that 80% of fans concentrate on the locomotives. Many fans simply walk away after the engines pass!!
