Backlog clearing Part II – 2nd Annual BSRM Night Photo Shoot

Ahhh, beautiful scenery, nearly perfect weather, and trains running at your will. No, this isn’t some elaborate layout, instead it’s the real thing – but this time the photographers were running around in the dark also. This past Saturday was the 2nd Annual Berskshire Scenic Railway Museum Night Photo Shoot at the BSRM site in Lenox, Massachusetts. About a dozen photographers converged on Lenox to light up the night, while supporting the BSRM. And I had the pleasure of not only being one of the photographers running amok in Lenox, but also helped put the event together.

Like last year, Steve Barry, editor of Railfan & Railroad magazine, provided the Lumedyne flash lighting, and directed the photographers during the flashed scenes – Thanks Steve! Ross Mealey of NortheastFoto.com and myself met a couple months back and laid out the shots, trying to come up with some different angles from last year’s successful shoot. I think the pre-planning worked out very well, and the new shots were well received by the photographers in attendance. And of course a huge thanks to the BSRM volunteers who came out to work the lights, move the equipment and also pose in most of the scenes. Oh, and also for providing the pizza! 🙂

OK, on to the shoot itself.

Of course, after we had our safety briefing, we waited around for it to get dark enough to start the festivities. So of course there was some ambient light photography going on. I got this ghostly image of BSRM volunteer Neil adjusting one of the kerosene lanterns on the back of the museum’s Alco S-1 switcher.

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Then another lantern caught my eye – this time it was hanging on the rear platform of a former New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad caboose that we’d be using in a couple scenes later on. Of course, as you can see below the lens, this is an original New Haven lantern that fits nicely with the original New Haven caboose.

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And another shot of the S-1 and the trio of lanterns, but sans “ghost”

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What kind of documentary photographer would I be without recording some of my fellow photographers? Here’s a couple working on their respective cameras in the waning twilight

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Then it finally got dark enough to begin shooting. The crowd moved to the south end of the station for the first shot, involving the museum’s EMD switcher waiting by the station. First was a test of the lights to see how long they should stay on. I kind of liked how it looked with the train mostly in the dark.

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And then the scene lit as it was intended

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Next we moved up to the north side of the station, where the New Haven caboose was waiting alongside the Housatonic Railroad’s Alco RS-3M. This time, I opened up my aperture another stop to let some more of the star light in. I got the constellation Sagittarius rising above the treeline behind the train.

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I did have my Graflex Pacemaker 23 Speed Graphic with me as well, and shot two rolls of 120 film. But I noticed something after I developed them – they were mostly out of focus. I need to practice my nighttime focusing on that camera. But I did manage to salvage one from this scene that works OK for a web sized image (forget about prints!)

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Then a couple shots using only ambient light, as the equipment was moved. The consist with the EMD switcher from the first shot, and New Haven caboose in the second shot was to be used in a later shot, so it was shoved back out of the scene. First up is a shot of the conductor’s lantern signaling the engine to proceed back as the train slowly rolls out of the frame.

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Then a shot as the switcher passes, and the headlights illuminate the rest of the landscape

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From there we headed for the east side of the tracks to photograph the RS-3M with the station in the background and Tom on the front steps of the locomotive. As usual, an ambient shot struck me while everyone was setting up – one of the station platform and the constellation Scorpius and Jupiter (the bright one) rising in the skies above

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Then the shot itself – again with Scorpius and Jupiter rising

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Continuing on our trek north through the BSRM property, next up was a shot of the EMD switcher and the trees behind her – what Steve termed a battery intensive shot (required quite a few flashes). So we only had one shot at this one. If we still had battery power at the end of the night, we’d give this one a second chance. Luckily for me, the first shot took.

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Also, I managed to salvage that frame from the Speed Graphic roll.  Quite a different feel than the digital, that’s for sure.

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Then it was over to the shot I was looking forward to. The BSRM recently acquired a boom truck, along with another EMD switcher. When I met Ross for the planning session the fan was out of the front of the locomotive and the proverbial light went off over my head. We figured a shot with the boom truck moving the fan blades from the locomotive would be something different, and we’d do it in front of the new yard office. So it was set up with a pair of BSRM volunteers – Kevin on the EMD steadying the fan and Tom manning the controls of the boom truck at the new, and still under construction, Yokun office. Here’s the shot

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I think it came out rather well.

Next up was another shot at the same location, but with the museum’s GE 50 ton switcher. Here Kevin & Tom were next to the office, with a pair of lanterns, reviewing their orders.

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Then the final shot of the night was a lineup on the three adjacent tracks nearby.

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And as it were, the last flash that came out of Steve’s Lumedyne was the last of the evening – the battery pack had given out and charged it’s last cycle for the evening. Another successful night shoot is in the books.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this happen, and make it a success!

Thanks for looking!
Tom