Re: Photo run - Avoid too much smoke!
| April 20, 2009 04:46PM |
|
IMHO -
1) Too much SMOKE is generally NOT authentic.
2) A lot of STEAM, on the other hand, can be spectacular.
3) The latter requires cold, or at least cool, surroundings. BRRRrrrr.
It's generally coolest early in the morning, so depart at 5:00 am and set up the first - and major - photo stop when there's just enough light to see what you're doing. (Good luck getting some of us old curmudgeons out of bed - and fed - by 5:00 am, but there are probably enough of us that it's worth a try.) What time is sunrise at Lava Tank in late September?
Also, a sunrise photo shoot in the Chama yard, e.g., wouldn't require a lot of flashpower - maybe just a few fill-in strobes. The main thing would be to have a knowledgeable photographer setting it up and a properly dressed hostler or two to have the engines fired up and to (re)spot them in the best locations (coaling tower, water tank, etc. - maybe even with a few stockcars at the loading chute*), and to perform appropriate engine servicing for the cameras.
[I'm describing the C&TS only because that's the line I'm most familiar with. I'm sure there are lots of equally enticing locations on the EBT, NN and SVRy, etc.]
- Russo
* plus a few snorting cows & steaming 'pies for authenticity?
1) Too much SMOKE is generally NOT authentic.
2) A lot of STEAM, on the other hand, can be spectacular.
3) The latter requires cold, or at least cool, surroundings. BRRRrrrr.
It's generally coolest early in the morning, so depart at 5:00 am and set up the first - and major - photo stop when there's just enough light to see what you're doing. (Good luck getting some of us old curmudgeons out of bed - and fed - by 5:00 am, but there are probably enough of us that it's worth a try.) What time is sunrise at Lava Tank in late September?
Also, a sunrise photo shoot in the Chama yard, e.g., wouldn't require a lot of flashpower - maybe just a few fill-in strobes. The main thing would be to have a knowledgeable photographer setting it up and a properly dressed hostler or two to have the engines fired up and to (re)spot them in the best locations (coaling tower, water tank, etc. - maybe even with a few stockcars at the loading chute*), and to perform appropriate engine servicing for the cameras.
[I'm describing the C&TS only because that's the line I'm most familiar with. I'm sure there are lots of equally enticing locations on the EBT, NN and SVRy, etc.]
- Russo
* plus a few snorting cows & steaming 'pies for authenticity?
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.