Lucky Pictures
I recently read an article in a Nature magazine about “Lucky Pictures”. It explained how luck was involved in the process of taking wildlife pictures. You have to be at the right place, at the right time and have the right lens on the camera. Some photographers even believe that it’s all about luck!
Animals are unpredictable. It is hard to plan any move from them. But what about trains? They are running on a track, at constant speed and they follow a schedule. Can luck have a role to play in Railroad Photography?
This subject reminds me of pictures I have already taken in which luck has already played a role. This is especially true with pictures displaying atmosphere.
Railroad Photography also means, being at the right time at the right place … with a camera! When a train arrives just we’re driving back from the supermarket, we have all said to ourselves: “Why don’t I have my camera with me today?”
So, this photo essay is about some of my lucky pictures and the stories behind them.
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The fist story took place in Switzerland, on the Joux Valley Railroad in June 2008. Electricity for the catenaries had been cut for maintenance. The railroad needed diesel units to haul their trains between Vallorbe and Brassus. They leased some several X2800 units from SNCF, the French State Railroad company. This was an amazing event, because X2800 units were all retired from active service in France.
One afternoon, I was railfanning on the Joux Valley with my dad. Since noon, the blue sky had been filled with big puffy clouds. Shadows were all over the valley and I asked my dad: “Do you think we will have sun?”
My dad replied: “Son, take the road on your left, I think it will be hard to get the sun.”
The road would end in the small community of Séchey. Everywhere was dark yet suddenly, the light broke through the clouds and the sound of an approaching train was filled the valley! I quickly changed my camera settings and took a picture of the units in sunlight. A few second later, the light was gone.
“Good that we didn’t stop a few meters away from here !” I said to my dad.
I took another lucky picture during that same summer. This time, the story involves trains crossing on a double track line. It is a random event and a perfect picture composition of such event is almost impossible unless…
Port-la-Nouvelle marais salants, South of France. It is 6.40 am and I am walking to Sainte Lucie Island. The Tramontane, a locally named wind, is blowing hard and I have to fight it to reach my train spotting place before the coming train arrives. I have just reached the island when I notice headlights on the horizon. I take my camera and move two feet to my left to include a nice foreground in for train picture. I pressed the shutter. The morning sun reflected off the side of an automotive freight train.
I don’t really have the time to appreciate this scene further: another train is arriving behind me on the other track. I quickly turn and put the camera back to my eye. I press the shutter once again and look at the camera screen. All is perfect: locomotives are right between the catenary poles, there are no disturbing shadows. Once again, it was a question of timing and being at the right place. Luckily there was also a 50mm lens on my camera enabled me to capture the whole scene within a single frame.
You can also be lucky when traveling. One morning in January 2010, I was sitting on a X73500 unit, a French regional train. It was filled with students going to school. The previous night had been very cold and frost covered the windows. It was slowly melting from the top. The frost was diffusing the outside light, giving a soft pink colour to the window. At Andelot station, the train stopped and the sign with the station name came to my view, at the perfect place! I took the picture. Coincidentally, this moment happened only a few days after I read the article about Lucky Pictures. If I had been seated two rows away, I wouldn’t have been able to take this shot!
When human beings are part of the subject of a picture, luck has an even bigger role to play. Once again, the photographer has to be at the right place and be ready to take advantage of the moment.
I have the perfect example for this. It is all about luck but involves the idea of the composition.
I was on the shores of Lac Léman, waiting for a train to come along. When it arrived, I worked out my composition: the train and a group of teenagers that are there taking in the sun. After pressing the shutter, I realized that some people were waving to us from the windows of the train! I missed this and that disappointed me. Anyway, this gave me inspiration for photographing the next train. I quickly changed my camera’s settings and started to pan shots of an express train. After taking those pictures, I checked them in the camera: first picture, nothing; second picture, nothing; third picture, bingo! I had captured a lady reading. For sure, I won’t take a picture like that so easily again.
In writing this essay, I realize now that many pictures include a great deal of “Luck”.
I will complete this essay with a few funny examples of luck. Like the day I met and old guy with his dog, or when a little bird came to eat on the locomotive in front of me, or when the train broke down just at the place I was taking pictures… Luckily, the list is growing month after month.
I also realize that many great pictures are not taken because of being unlucky. It may come from the wrong choice of lens or because the camera was hidden too deep in my camera bag. I could give dozens of examples like this.
In conclusion, don’t you think that the best pictures contain a large element of luck?
