WhiteRiverProductions Rails
Beyond the Rutland
PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Now operated under the Vermont Rail System banner,
you’ll see the early operations of the Vermont Railway,
Clarendon & Pittford, and the Green Mountain Railroad!
From the marble quarry pits to piggyback trailers, from steam excursions to heavy freight! From the Rutland’s last gasp to the Vermont
Railway’s modest start, you’ll enjoy great black and white photography documenting
this picturesque New England shortline from end to end. A detailed locomotive roster
and diverse equipment photos round out this look back at Vermont Railway’s early
years. LIMITED SUPPLY, order your copy today!
A Vermont Classic $12.95
S/H per book: $5 US, $9 Canada, all others, call or email for rates. Order item CRS-RBTR
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WhiteRiverProductions.com 54 DECEMBER 2015 •
RAILFAN.COM
A forgotten steam relic languishes in the weeds as a worker tends to a new diesel locomotive at the Mount Washington Cog Railway in New Hampshire in 2008. Change was in the air as “The Cog” transitioned away from steam-powered trains, and this scene helps capture that period in time. JUSTIN FRANZ PHOTO
How to Shoot Photos that Tell a Story GUEST COLUMNIST: JUSTIN FRANZ
WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR PHOTOS TO MEAN when you are gone? It’s almost a morbid question but it’s one I often think about whenever I go trackside. Like many of us in this hobby, I spend a
lot of time and energy following my favorite subject. We drive great distances for it, spend countless hours waiting for the right lighting or train, and spend more money in pursuit of the perfect shot than any of us would like to admit. So it would seem that if no one cared about the collection of photographs we spent a lifetime creating, it would have all been a waste, right? As you ponder that question, here’s another:
who are the railroad photographers whose work stands out the most in your mind? The answers will vary for everyone, but I’m sure that high on many people’s lists are names like Richard Steinheimer, Ted Benson, and Phillip R. Hastings. Why is that? For me, it’s because each of these photographers approached their subjects as journalists, something I can relate to because I work as a writer and photographer for a newspaper in northwest Montana. While I promise you I have never created anything as good as those three men created, many of the practices that they used are ones I use at work every day. However, you don’t need to be a journalist to create photos that tell a story. What made their photos special was that
they didn’t just capture images of trains rolling across a picturesque landscape. They captured images that told the story of a place and time — images that told more than what the motive power was of a certain era. Take Steinheimer’s classic The Electric
Way Across the Mountains (Carbarn Press, 1980), which chronicled the final days of the Milwaukee Road’s electric operations in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The
images sprawled out in those 188 pages tell the full story of the electrification, and it’s not just about the locomotives — it’s about the people who made it work. There are portraits of the employees who manned the remote substations, images of the workers who labored day and night to keep the MILW’s electric oddities out on the road, and even photographs of the photographers themselves who went the extra distance to cover this unique operation. A lot of people shot the Milwaukee electrification, but no one covered it like Steinheimer, and that’s why his images serve as a priceless record of that era. To me the obvious reason Steinheimer’s coverage of the Milwaukee was so stunning is that he dedicated himself to telling that story. He didn’t swoop into the area on a whirlwind vacation weekend and try to shoot as much as he could on one trip like so many of us often do. Steinheimer made numerous trips to the Milwaukee and got to know the people and operation. The relationships he built with the railroaders there over the years provided him with near-unlimited access, and it shows in the images. Make no mistake, there is no way Steinheimer could have created the body of work he did on the Milwaukee in one trip. More often than not, telling a story like the one he did takes years of effort.
Finding a Story to Tell Of course, getting such unlimited access
to a Class I railroad in 2015 is frankly impossible unless you happen to work there. But if you take the time and look around, you’ll find that there are still many unique photographic opportunities. For me, that has meant focusing on smaller and overlooked railroads. Shortline railroads are often more welcoming to enthusiasts and are not as paranoid about someone with a camera.
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