One picture and its story -02
02 – Railroads’ roots
Date : March 2006
Place : Quebec Province, Canada
Subject : lonely freight cars under the snow
I’m not going to explain in this essay how life brought me to North America, it would take too long! Since my first visit there however, my photographic skills have improved considerably. That part of the planet brings out the creativity in a lot of people. It is probably the change in living habits and the unfamiliar surroundings that pushed me towards taking different types of pictures and to renew my vision and style as well.
Trip after trip, I slowly discovered the North American continent, its geography, its history and the role that railroads played in the growth of both Canada and USA. I learned many things about the history of many small companies that not longer exist. I realized that the tracks were trails of the pioneers, and the trains that ran over them were the life-blood of the newly born civilization.
Over the years, I became more familiar with North American culture. My vision of North American Railroads changed as well. One day, when driving from Quebec City to Halifax, I came across a small branch line in the middle of a forest. I stopped and observed these lonely cars. The sky was gray and a light snow was falling. I imagined the flat cars were awaiting the arrival of a distant locomotive, one that would bring them to their next destination … certainly the foundation of Railroading. Suddenly, I realized that it was just the same over one hundred years ago, when fresh tracks were shaping a new continent: North America.
The hidden museum
Impressions
Dirty little details
A train driver perspective
One picture and its story -01
01 – Breaking the rules
Date : June 2006
Place : Lyle, Washington State, United States of America
Subject : An American freight train
This picture had to be the first of the series. For the first time, I was breaking the rules. For the first time, I had moved away from the classical “three quarter wedgie”.
I had been taking classical shots since the 90s. I kept taking them because they were the only one accepted by the railfan magazines. Most of their readers are modelers with a need for the details that reproduce the Railroad life. Year after year, article after article, I mastered this style.
Life brought me to North America at a time when I was beginning to get bored with taking classic pictures. In this vast young continent, I discovered new visions of Railroad Photography. My vision of Railroad photography was forever changed.
Today’s picture is the first one that I planned to take differently. The subject is a BNSF freight train. The shape and colours of the locomotives make the identification of the locomotives easy: SD40-2s. The sun and landscape were both in the right place to take a great classic shot. I purposely focused on the grass in the foreground however, blurring the train, placing it out of focus, giving the reader’s mind an opportunity to imagine the details of the scene. You can easily understand why I chose this picture to be the first of the series.
Magazine – Volume 03
[Download the volume number 03] 21 pages : 25.3 Mo :
Kristof De Veirman – A free photographer
Meet Kristof de Veirman, a Belgian photographer and founder of the Underground Train Movement. He talks about his vision on Railroad Photography. Also discover a day of railfaning with him on the railway line that link Toul to Dijon (East of France). [more to read...]
People & Trains: 2010 selection
People and Trains – Year 2010 : you will find the 2010 selection of picture. This section is updated on a regular basis.
Most recent pictures are first in the list. Keep checking for updates!
Last update : 09.12.2010
Homa – A borough in Montreal
HoMa is another name for Hochelaga Maisonneuve, a borough of Montreal (Canada). Long ago, this was a small suburb community. Since then, it has been absorbed and is now part of the second biggest French speaking town in the world. This is a working people area that slowly modernizes. But it hardly find its way. Today you can find middle class people in condos around little parks and a few feet from there you have very poor people.
HoMa is the place of one Canadian Pacific big yard. There also are some little customers, little businesses that need one fright car or two. Some of them are closed and people decided to build lofts in there. Some are waiting for demolition. All this give an interesting mix, a creative material for the photographer. You just have to take time to find the good idea.
Here is a collection of atmosphere that I brought from HoMa.
Lézat Snapshots
Lézat is a small village in the Bienne river Valley, between the towns of St Claude and Morez, deep in the Jura Mountains. It is far away from busy highways. A quiet place on the side of a mountain that receives sunlight most of the day. Last but not least, a railway line passes through the town.
Easily reachable by bicycle, the area is not too far from my house. You can probably understand then, why Lézat was where I experienced one of my first railfaning days, and why I visited there many times afterward. The railway track through Lézat takes an S shaped turn through the village to avoid the various small farms and houses along the way. Seasonal changes, present plenty of opportunities for photography. Mostly, and for reasons I find difficult to explain, Lézat’s allure keeps me returning.
I learned how to use a wide angle lens while photographing Lézat. The scene taught me to move far away from the track if I wanted to capture the whole valley within my picture frame. During my earliest days photographing railroads, standing a few hundred meters from the moving train was inconceivable to me! Photographing at Lézat also taught me to search for new viewpoints, conditional upon the light or the weather, forcing me to not take the same pictures twice. This became an important rule for me!
The following gallery showcases pictures taken from most of the accessible viewpoints in Lézat. But as my vision evolves, I think it may be possible that Lézat has hidden surprises for me. Some readers may have noticed that the perfect snow shot is missing… the call for another trip!
