JPG: Stories: How To: 'Training' for Photography

How To

'Training' for Photography

Grain Elevators from the Window of Amtrak

Glacier National Park from an Amtrak Train

By Elizabeth Conant

30 Nov 2008

Have you ever wished you could photograph this great country of ours from sea to shining sea? Not many of us have the luxury or the time it would take to travel the distance, and stop to capture key scenes.

As a compromise, our vacations in the past several years have put us on an Amtrak Train traveling at high speed cross country. We have traveled this way four times and each one has been a bit different, but an equally satisfying photographic

experience! With a roomette, a generous window view and camera in hand it was difficult not to want to take photos despite the movement and speed. With this big, glorious country flowing beneath us and the scenery streaming by outside the window, it is impossible for a photographer to keep the camera quiet.

So, how is it done? Well, a clean window is a good start!! We have not always had this luxury, but there is always a fall-back position and that has always been in the observation car. This car has windows that wrap around to the ceiling and provide a

fairly generous view of passing countryside. Perhaps because it IS an observation car, they tend to keep the windows cleaner

here than in the rooms. While you lack the privacy of your roomette, you gain the view that you so sorely long for!

Here is a shot of the observation car taken while the train was stopped at a station. The camera was hand-held which is possible with the good light provided by the windows and the quiet of the train.

Once you have your seat and something interesting streaming by outside, set your camera to a large f-stop to enhance depth of

field, then prepare to focus on a point well away from the side of the tracks. The closer the focus point, the more likely you

will have significant foreground blur to deal with. Or prepare to deal with the blur creatively. Sometimes motion blur can help the eye focus better on the subject with a very neutral blurry foreground. The further from the train your focal point is located, the sharper your image will be. OR Keeping the focal point far from the train, will ensure a larger number of sharp photos. If you have a polarizing filter on your lense, remove it. The trains tend to have glazed windows to cut down on glare and sun exposure in the rooms. This glazing tends to magnify the effect of the polarizing filter to produce strange and unwanted color casts and rainbow effects in photographs.

Be ready to shoot lots of 'film.' It took me several months to get used to the idea that I wasn't burning up film (as in the days

of film cameras) when I fired the shutter each time on a digital camera. The more you shoot, the more likely you are to find gems among the unsatisfactory frames shot from a moving train. If you have dark, overcast weather one day, you will often find that the weather has changed rather quickly and often you'll find some sunshine and good light 'down the road.' Keep in mind that the rapid movement of the train accentuates the movement of weather. If you are traveling west to east, you are traveling WITH the weather and it may tend to move a bit slower, but if you are traveling east to west, you tend to pass through weather systems faster, so either way, you'll not find any particular kind of weather lasting very long.

We have travelled in spring and fall and have found that fall tends to be more crystalline and clear, but the overcast of spring

storms can make for interesting scenery. When it's overcast, colors tend to appear more intense and saturated...even from a

moving train! Fog or mist hanging in valleys and lowlands can make for interesting layers that you wouldn't see on a clear,

bright day.

With space for luggage less an issue on the train than it is on the airlines, you can carry more equipment with you. There is always limited space in the roomettes, but plenty of room for extra bags somewhere on the train. I always bring my laptop so that I can download my collection of images daily; deleting the duds, making space for more the next day. I shoot with a Canon 5D and always keep a 4 gig flash card in the camera. I find that often it holds as many raw shots as I can shoot in a day though I always have extra flash cards in case I shoot more than usual. Each room has an electrical outlet, so that you can recharge batteries for all of your equipment as you go. I always keep the laptop with me in my room; storing it in the small, but ample closet whenever I leave the rooom. On four such journeys I have not once had a problem doing this, though there is no way to lock doors to secure valuables. THe porters tend to roam the halls frequently enough to deter theft, it appears. If you were not comfortable with this arrangement, I'm sure you could tether your laptop to something in the room to insure its security. I have always carried my camera when leaving the room. I guess for me, the loss of the camera would be far more traumatic than the loss of the computer, though I wish to lose neither! I carry all of my lenses and other small paraphenalia in a small backpack which I also take with me whenever we leave the room. Having all my camera equipment in a backpack keeps it in one place and the smaller size of the pack makes it manageable for this smallish, older lady on a long journey. It takes 3 days and nights from Portland, Maine to Whitefish, Montana.

You will find yourself going to three meals a day on the train. If you have a roomette ticket, meals are included with your fare. You will be pleasantly surprised to find the food quite good. You may also be surprised at the efficiency of the dining car staff at moving people through meal hours. This arrangement is one of the charms of train travel. As with cruise ship travel, you will sit at a table with other passengers. You will meet people of varied backgrounds and travel plans. It makes for a very interesting journey! The largest challenge in this arrangement is in doing nothing but sitting and eating for hours and days, though it beats many other forms of travel for the ability to get up and walk if you choose. Typically the trains are several cars long and you can walk the length of the train, if you wish.

Being creatures of habit, and with an abiding love of the Rocky Mountains of Montana, we have always taken the northern route (on the Empire Builder) from Chicago, Illinois, across the Mississippi River, into Minnesota and Wisconsin, across North Dakota and into Montana on our way to Glacier National Park. Surely other routes afford equally interesting and challenging photography opportunities, but there is something seductive about the northern plains. The rugged topography of North Dakota, the magesty of rising purple mountains call us back this way time and again! We've repeated this trip four times; twice in spring, twice in fall and are planning a repeat journey this coming spring.

Another advantage of train travel is the views seen from the train that you would never see from a car--or airplane. The train travels through areas where roads do not go. Travelers get very different perspectives on cities, farms and countryside. (Shot of Sears Building and Chicago here.) The Michigan Association of Train Travelers, * says, "With the continuously rising cost of fuel, travel of this sort is probably going to make a comeback. On the basis on energy consumed per passenger mile, passenger rail (Amtrak) is 27% more efficient than cars, 57% more efficient than light trucks, and 43% more efficient than certified route airlines. Because it already is becoming an increasingly popular way to travel, it is more important than ever to make your plans early! The trains fill up fast. YOu can make your reservations up to 11 months in advance and the prices are lowest before the trains fill. Thankfully, we did not abandon Federal funding for the Amtrak in the 80's and 90's as Congress and our President wished us to. It remains a viable means of travel that will save us the cost and aggravation of driving or flying!

It is tempting to think of one's destination as the real object of a photo vacation. Glacier National Park is certainly an attractive goal, but we have found that the journey provides almost equally interesting and challenging photo ops! Don't let a day pass on the train without capturing the passing scenery for posterity as you go! This great country of ours is a treasure to capture, record and you never know when you may corral a gem as you pass large farms, oil rigs, coraled horses, cattle grazing, approaching storms, setting sun, big sky with dramatic cloud formations, famous rivers, reservations of Native Americans, historic landmarks, or railroad memorabilia. Thinking of the train as part of a photographic journey--more than just a means to get from here to there will enrich the journey immeasurably! Try it! You'll like it!

* Michigan Association of Train Travelers, http://www.marp.org/index.php?page=publicbenefits

VOTE: Should this story be published in JPG?