Posted by Karl Buiter on January 17, 2014 at 2:17 AM
Some may know of it, done it, or look forward to doing it. So as I look forward again to the Winter Photographer's Train, I figure its time to dump some of favorites over the past few years. Time to clean out the LightRoom Five Stars so to speak.
This is a special event held in the Winter and Fall. Essentially you board at dawn; get thrown off the train at key photo spots in the Animas River Canyon; they rearrange the train and do a couple run-bys; and repeat all day long. A couple years ago they had a flanger train. Sometimes they run it backwards up the canyon so that the locomotive has the best light when running forward; sometimes you end up in the caboose. And the night before they do a roundhouse shoot. I swear the crew has more fun than all the photographers and videographers. And we are having a bunch of fun!!
One word - almost all these shots had very little setup time. We are climbing hills, hitting snow, and hoping whereever we end up in the photo line is good enough. Its great exercise - both physically and as a photographer. Make the shot work.
First shot is from this past fall. As many may recall, Fall in Colorado was fairly spotty so color was not abundant. So I decided I would go with a black and white in post to capture the scene.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 17, 2014 at 2:21 AM
Another shot I turn to time and time again. It has a soft look and I love the glow coming from inside the boiler courtesy the lighting crews hired for the evening. I intentionally left the top of the roundhouse door self-cropping the image. This was taken with a T2i - a borrowed camera - with my 70-200. More on that later.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 17, 2014 at 2:23 AM
White Out!
Yeah, its grainy, its another black and white. But I just love the intensity of the 486 rocking through the snow.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 17, 2014 at 2:26 AM
Fire Box.
A highlight of the night shoot is emptying of the fire box. Coals are dumped and doused. It is admittedly an awkward shot, partly because to see the coals spill you have to be on that chute cutaway. They do it a few times so everyone has a chance, but sometimes its pretty tame. I just decided to crop this one as best I can without losing the sense of locomotive.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 17, 2014 at 2:27 AM
Again from last fall, this was probably the best color I could find; and I ended up on the shadow side of the locomotive. Much more of a scenic.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 17, 2014 at 2:31 AM
A highlight is of course The High Line. Amazing area if you know the massive drop-off below the train. But really tough to get - one I am still trying to get - due to the shadows and framing. This is not quite the High Line shot, but I did want to show off one of the cool train consists this crew created for us. Yes, they went back to Rockwood, flipped the train to southbound, left the Passenger Cars and Freight Cars behind, then came past us to set up for two run-bys.
This is not a model railroad shot :)
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 17, 2014 at 2:40 AM
And a shot I showed off when I first joined RMNP. This is the most recent edit.
To a quick story - it was the very first night of my three year run making these trips. I was excited. And for the first shot by the sanding tower I set down my tripod on what I thought would be a secure metal plate in the yard. Mounted the 7D, the 70-200 f/2.8 USM II, and stepped back to get something out of the bag.... and crash! There was a hole under one corner and the plate pivoted, throwing everything into metal scrap. Ouch! Ok,,, damage.... looks ok... set up... shutter... CF Error.... grumble... took me five minutes to discover the hole in the camera body - I could see the reader inside. Done for the weekend before I got my first shot out. Fortunately I had just met another photographer who had a spare T2i (actually his third body). So I relate this story as a reason why I carry two bodies. But I also see it as great lesson. We are a community. And I hope to someday pay the favor forward.
Love this! I'm interested in getting more information. I'm retiring from my teaching position at the end of this school year and will finally be able to devote time to my photography. I think this needs to be on my list of "must do" trips
They are all nice but I liked your last shot a lot
Posted by Darren Huski on January 17, 2014 at 1:57 PM
One of those trips I hope to one day make. Great shots and write up!! Good luck this year!
Posted by Bob Falcone on January 17, 2014 at 4:28 PM
Excellent series...each one is GREAT! The last one, however, is my favorite!
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 17, 2014 at 5:55 PM
Thanks Everyone.
Elaine - I would find their website, which is DurangoTrain.com and use the special events tab. Usually you want to call them the week after the last event occurred to get on the list. In the past they began call backs on 1/1 and 6/1; but this Winter they began calling two weeks after the fall event. The night shoot is a separate event. I have heard the Cumbres and Toltec crossing the NM and CO border also runs similar photographer-centric events.
Posted by Todd Caudle on January 18, 2014 at 11:14 AM
Posted by Richard Olsen on January 18, 2014 at 12:52 PM
We did the winter run in 2010...and had a great time! There was lots of snow making it difficult to get very far off the tracks. In fact, the train crew had gone up the tracks the day before and shoveled out spots for the photogs to stand for the photos. If you stepped off the shoveled area you were in waist deep or deeper snow. Fun keeping the camera dry!! I found it facinating that the track isn't straight line like modern tracks.
I'd highly recommend doing this trip if you haven't done so!
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 18, 2014 at 4:38 PM
Cool Pic Richard!
Yep, lots of shoveling by the crew. Looks like a bunch of snow in 2010.. I enjoyed a good blizzard-situation in 2012. But 2013 seemed dry. Every year seems to bring something different.
Posted by Karl Buiter on January 18, 2014 at 4:39 PM
Couple other thoughts -
For the videographers, the photo line goes silent during run-bys so the microphones can collect sound. Some have wireless mics dropped by the tracks. The crews tend to max the steam and hit the whistles and bells liberally to add to the effect - and with the canyon echos, and snow, its pretty cool.
This is also Narrow Guage 3-ft wide track, much narrower than the standard guage track. Historically the Denver and Rio Grande, where this route works from, ran a big loop around Colorado. Silverton became important because of the Silver Boom in the late 1800's. A trio of small railroads worked north out of Silverton, but none reached Ouray or Lake City. The loop for the Denver and Rio Grande actually heads westward to Delores - then Rico - Telluride - Ridgway - Montrose. Dozens of small railroads spurred of the main routes. Many of the roads and trails we use today were former railroad right-of-way or mule trails.
I'll toss one more photo on the fire. Its one from the High Line. The High Line was blasted from solid granite and cost $100k per mile back in the 1800's. You may have seen it in the movies. In this shot I am laying low by the tracks from behind the berm to avoid being in other photographer shots. (and yes you double-check your clearance) The color balance is all over the place due to sharp sun and shade (the cards you are dealt with) so once again I pulled out SilverEfex.
A great collection of shots of this cool train. I like that last one above the best, but they are all very well done.
Posted by Scott Fricke on January 23, 2014 at 10:46 PM
A mighty fine collection of images Karl, sounds like an amazing trip to take, thank you for sharing. Hard to pick a favorite from so many strong images but I'll go with the first one with the last one right up there too.
Discussion
17 repliesSome may know of it, done it, or look forward to doing it. So as I look forward again to the Winter Photographer's Train, I figure its time to dump some of favorites over the past few years. Time to clean out the LightRoom Five Stars so to speak.
This is a special event held in the Winter and Fall. Essentially you board at dawn; get thrown off the train at key photo spots in the Animas River Canyon; they rearrange the train and do a couple run-bys; and repeat all day long. A couple years ago they had a flanger train. Sometimes they run it backwards up the canyon so that the locomotive has the best light when running forward; sometimes you end up in the caboose. And the night before they do a roundhouse shoot. I swear the crew has more fun than all the photographers and videographers. And we are having a bunch of fun!!
One word - almost all these shots had very little setup time. We are climbing hills, hitting snow, and hoping whereever we end up in the photo line is good enough. Its great exercise - both physically and as a photographer. Make the shot work.
First shot is from this past fall. As many may recall, Fall in Colorado was fairly spotty so color was not abundant. So I decided I would go with a black and white in post to capture the scene.
Another shot I turn to time and time again. It has a soft look and I love the glow coming from inside the boiler courtesy the lighting crews hired for the evening. I intentionally left the top of the roundhouse door self-cropping the image. This was taken with a T2i - a borrowed camera - with my 70-200. More on that later.
White Out!
Yeah, its grainy, its another black and white. But I just love the intensity of the 486 rocking through the snow.
Fire Box.
A highlight of the night shoot is emptying of the fire box. Coals are dumped and doused. It is admittedly an awkward shot, partly because to see the coals spill you have to be on that chute cutaway. They do it a few times so everyone has a chance, but sometimes its pretty tame. I just decided to crop this one as best I can without losing the sense of locomotive.
Again from last fall, this was probably the best color I could find; and I ended up on the shadow side of the locomotive. Much more of a scenic.
This is not a model railroad shot :)
And a shot I showed off when I first joined RMNP. This is the most recent edit.
To a quick story - it was the very first night of my three year run making these trips. I was excited. And for the first shot by the sanding tower I set down my tripod on what I thought would be a secure metal plate in the yard. Mounted the 7D, the 70-200 f/2.8 USM II, and stepped back to get something out of the bag.... and crash! There was a hole under one corner and the plate pivoted, throwing everything into metal scrap. Ouch! Ok,,, damage.... looks ok... set up... shutter... CF Error.... grumble... took me five minutes to discover the hole in the camera body - I could see the reader inside. Done for the weekend before I got my first shot out. Fortunately I had just met another photographer who had a spare T2i (actually his third body). So I relate this story as a reason why I carry two bodies. But I also see it as great lesson. We are a community. And I hope to someday pay the favor forward.
So once again, an old fave on a borrowed T2i.
elaine
Thanks Everyone.
Elaine - I would find their website, which is DurangoTrain.com and use the special events tab. Usually you want to call them the week after the last event occurred to get on the list. In the past they began call backs on 1/1 and 6/1; but this Winter they began calling two weeks after the fall event. The night shoot is a separate event. I have heard the Cumbres and Toltec crossing the NM and CO border also runs similar photographer-centric events.
I'd highly recommend doing this trip if you haven't done so!
Yep, lots of shoveling by the crew. Looks like a bunch of snow in 2010.. I enjoyed a good blizzard-situation in 2012. But 2013 seemed dry. Every year seems to bring something different.
For the videographers, the photo line goes silent during run-bys so the microphones can collect sound. Some have wireless mics dropped by the tracks. The crews tend to max the steam and hit the whistles and bells liberally to add to the effect - and with the canyon echos, and snow, its pretty cool.
This is also Narrow Guage 3-ft wide track, much narrower than the standard guage track. Historically the Denver and Rio Grande, where this route works from, ran a big loop around Colorado. Silverton became important because of the Silver Boom in the late 1800's. A trio of small railroads worked north out of Silverton, but none reached Ouray or Lake City. The loop for the Denver and Rio Grande actually heads westward to Delores - then Rico - Telluride - Ridgway - Montrose. Dozens of small railroads spurred of the main routes. Many of the roads and trails we use today were former railroad right-of-way or mule trails.
I'll toss one more photo on the fire. Its one from the High Line. The High Line was blasted from solid granite and cost $100k per mile back in the 1800's. You may have seen it in the movies. In this shot I am laying low by the tracks from behind the berm to avoid being in other photographer shots. (and yes you double-check your clearance) The color balance is all over the place due to sharp sun and shade (the cards you are dealt with) so once again I pulled out SilverEfex.
Anyone else have shots of the D&SNGRR?