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Hi everyone,
This month presented a special once a year opportunity. The 10th Annual "24 Hours @ Saginaw" event by the NRHS North Texas Chapter occurred from 7:00pm May 22nd to 7:00pm May 23rd. I have been looking forward to it, given how well last year went! Several years ago Brian Tindle inspired me to try night photos again after I had pretty much given up on the idea due to my strong preference for the more traditional daylight roster shot look. For the several years since being inspired, I tried and for the most part failed to take some decent night photos during this event. Last year I finally experienced enough of what I considered a success to share the results. Thanks again, Brian! It was good to see you there this year! This year I knew up front to prepare for rain, so I arrived at about 8:45pm and had to set up lights in the dark and mud. The event was already off to a great start, with the Saginaw Chamber of Commerce parking lot completely full! Despite so many cars there, there were only a handful outside watching due to the darkness, rain, and the opportunity to enjoy some quality entertainment material organized by the NRHS North Texas Chapter inside the Saginaw Chamber of Commerce depot building. I was taking a bit of a risk with my lighting equipment in this much rain, but everything remained adequately dry and still works. While the weather was less than ideal, the railroad traffic at the start of the event was great! I took my fist shot at 9:34pm, and by 11:22pm I already made my quota of 5 decent BNSF shots! I actually had 6 for that matter, even more if I count non-BNSF subjects. Of this batch, the one that stands out to me is SD70ACE #9163, mainly since the rain was moderately heavy at that time as can be seen in the headlight beams streaming out in front of the locomotive. Fortunately the rain was not so heavy that you could not see that far. This photo also best shows my efforts to modify the light put out by the flashes so that the locomotive is well lit, but the ground in front of the locomotive is less lit. Getting this effect precisely right is a challenge outdoors with wind as a factor. The front truck and snowplow are a tad dark, but overall this is closer to what I intended to do than any of the other photos where there is more noticeable foreground lighting. Enjoy! |
