I’ve mentioned before that my construction methods are a bit unusual. It’s the same with my photography. From what I can gather a proper railway photographer takes pictures of trains like this:
- Organise trip to half a dozen locations.
- Procure working timetables for each location for three years either side of proposed date.
- Get hold of inside information as to which locomotives will be used for the trip, average speed, number of wagons in train, et c.
- Get all tickets
- Plan locations and angles, taking into account position of the sun, number of days to the solstice, atmospheric pressure and moon phases.
- Arrive at least 24 hours before the event.
- Set up an hour in advance.
- Take 37 images which would not look out of place at a fine art exhibition.
As you’ll probably expect, it’s a bit different here. Any and all observations about the minutiae of the railway systems I’m traveling on are simply opportunistic picture grabs taken as and when we aren’t running for trains. The usual process is as follows:
- While travelling on random train, spot something interesting coming along. Fast.
- Get camera out.
- Attract attention of Nearest Son who wants to see what is happening.
- Nearest Son grabs hold of daddy, causing me to wobble.
- Grab hold of Nearest Son and lift him with left arm, resulting in violent protest from left shoulder.
- Show Nearest son what I’ve seen.
- Point camera at what I’ve seen, which is a lot closer now.
- Camera focuses somehow despite being held in one hand and aiming through a window.
- And…
Which is why this picture of a Japan Railfreight EF200 and EF66 B-B-B unit in the outskirts of Nagoya is perhaps a bit below the standards of the Royal Photographic Society.
Still, a few minutes with the Gimp and I got a halfway decent shot:
The EF210‘s are Japan Railfreights new B-B-B design and cam bomb along the track at a respectable 110km/h which compares well with the 140km/h of the UK’s class 92, which are the UK’s newest electric freight locomotives. The EF210′s are now replacing the venerable EF66 locomotives like the one parked next to it so I’m glad I got at least one picture of them while still in service.
It only took a week for my left shoulder to get back to normal.
