What Is The Best Photo/Video You Have Ever Captured?

Reminds me of a photo Link took where a horse and dray just happened by while he was waiting to photograph a Mollie.

pennytrains posted:

Reminds me of a photo Link took where a horse and dray just happened by while he was waiting to photograph a Mollie.

"Old Maude bows."

Kent in SD

All of the photos posted in this thread so far are truly excellent.  Each of us has our Moment of Excitement Photo or photos.  I'd like to thank Railman Brody for initiating this topic.  

Here is mine - the Amtrak Station in Whitefish, Montana.

Railfan Brody posted:

Dieselbob posted:

I know where that is! 

The Giveaways:

The broad curve, the cornfield, the small yard lead, and the Wabash RR signal (Which has since been replaced).

That's Roanoke, Indiana, isn't it?

You are correct Brody.  This was the morning of the St Louis deadhead move.  The fog that morning was so thick, we couldn't see 765 until it passed the signal.

After Mother Nature kept following me around all spring blowing wind in my ear, this morning I finally caught her sleeping and let the 611 sneak through.

Here's my best. 

Here are a couple that I never tire of looking at:

photo of any train, much appreciated. admire rr fans postings of real trains. kelly

Big Jim posted:

After Mother Nature kept following me around all spring blowing wind in my ear, this morning I finally caught her sleeping and let the 611 sneak through.

 

 

That engine must use thousands of gallons of proto-smoke!

HARD PULL

That was one of my favorites. It's a bit shakey, I was going to take one or two stills, heard her working hard and switched to video.

Ed

Edit...that lovely whistle is an Espee six chime.

That is a great video.

hardpull, I visited the Roanoke Trans. Museum back in 1978, when 611, sat under an open air roof. but it seems a rarer sight be it photos or videos of ex-Sou, ex-N&W that used to sit at this Roanoke Museum, that were restored to running condition, is the former 2-8-8-4 cab # 1284. I was lucky to have witnessed see/hear this "monstracity" roll by Lake Acotink VA late one Sunday afternoon back in the early 90s. anyone capture a video of #1284 in action? Kelly

In the snow with my buddy Ralph C. at Crewe Virginia:

When my wife worked at Atlantic Wood Industries, Portsmouth Virginia:

With my buddy Roy P. in Ahoskie, North Carolina:

Got a tour of Mid-South with Gerry Harmon in Vicksburg Mississippi:

At Collier Yard with my dad in Petersburg Virginia:

Not the best photos in the world, but I'm glad I was there to snap them.

The 765 on it's way east through Pittsburgh's West Park on the Northside.

The same on one of the excursions in 2013 around Horseshoe Curve.

GP-35 posted:

hardpull, I visited the Roanoke Trans. Museum back in 1978, when 611, sat under an open air roof. but it seems a rarer sight be it photos or videos of ex-Sou, ex-N&W that used to sit at this Roanoke Museum, that were restored to running condition, is the former 2-8-8-4 cab # 1284. I was lucky to have witnessed see/hear this "monstracity" roll by Lake Acotink VA late one Sunday afternoon back in the early 90s. anyone capture a video of #1284 in action? Kelly

You are definitely confused about something, i.e. "2-8-8-4 cab #1284". The N&W did not have any 2-8-8-4 steam locomotives, however the restored to operation N&W Class A, #1218 which is a 2-6-6-4, may have been what you witnessed.

Dieselbob posted:

Railfan Brody posted:

Dieselbob posted:

I know where that is! 

The Giveaways:

The broad curve, the cornfield, the small yard lead, and the Wabash RR signal (Which has since been replaced).

That's Roanoke, Indiana, isn't it?

You are correct Brody.  This was the morning of the St Louis deadhead move.  The fog that morning was so thick, we couldn't see 765 until it passed the signal.

I live in Warren, about 20 miles away, and I saw 765 there in 2015 during the NS excursions.

As I was going through my photos, taken in the late seventies, I found a few more I thought worthy of posting.  Again, these were slides uploaded to my computer after sitting in their carousel trays for over thirty years.  So not the best quality.

First four are all in the Zoo Tower area.  Last one was taken from the last car on a trip my wife and I took to Williamsburg in 1978.  I cannot recall which bridge this was, but it's somewhere in Maryland.

My favorite pictures taken during the 2003 Altoona, Pa. Railfest.

Conrail Blue still prevalent at Cassandra, Pa. Overlook Park:

"S" curve at Tyrone, Pa.:

Inside the "Warrior Ridge" Parlor Car:

View of the Horseshoe Curve National Park from inside the Warrior Ridge:

Pennsylvania Railroad E8's waiting for departure at Altoona, Pa. station:

1914 bridge about ½ mile from the station over the Verde Canyon Railroad in Clarksdale, Az.:

Some pumpkins near Wickenburg, Az.:

2009 World Series:

Amtrak Acela at speed at Perryville, Md.:

The Durbin Rocket:

The Problem:

The Solution:

Yosemite National Park:

For me as a photo, I have some photos and 2 videos at I took.

Bob Delbridge posted:

At Collier Yard with my dad in Petersburg Virginia:

What is it?

As for the best, I think these 3 are my best I've done.

spwills posted:

Bob Delbridge posted:

At Collier Yard with my dad in Petersburg Virginia:

What is it?

Something only a mother could love. 

It was a brainchild of the Family Lines System. A GE BQ23-7. Basically a regular GE locomotive but with a wide cab. Looks like it was imported from Russia or something. 

wrawroacx posted:

As for the best, I think these 3 are my best I've done.

What day was that taken on? Morning trip or afternoon trip?

Railfan Brody posted:

spwills posted:

Bob Delbridge posted:

At Collier Yard with my dad in Petersburg Virginia:

What is it?

Something only a mother could love. 

It was a brainchild of the Family Lines System. A GE BQ23-7. Basically a regular GE locomotive but with a wide cab. Looks like it was imported from Russia or something. 

Thanks Brody,

Looked like a GE, but I'm not familiar with them beyond telling them apart from ALCOs.

Speaking of rare looking, here's the 3008 as later in life, a "B" unit!

CSX 3008B

And here, two months old!   

IN ANOTHER LIFE

Ed

Shifting at Adams Street Yard.

Forgot about this one which is actually my background screen.

Railfan Brody posted:

wrawroacx posted:

As for the best, I think these 3 are my best I've done.

What day was that taken on? Morning trip or afternoon trip?

Brody, the bridge photo was in the morning and the 2 from the hill is in the afternoon? Also this was taken Sun Sept 18th, 2016 in Brecksville Ohio.

Not nessasarily my best shot, but here's a pic of the BNSF Argentine yard and diesel shop in Kanasas City Kansas.

LLKJR posted:

I have a photo runby story.  Many years ago while on a trip on the Clinchfield RR, One Spot was doing a photo runby coming left to right.  We we told to stay behind the safety line on the ground and all complied, except one person.  I had the perfect spot low to the ground, I had my 35mm ready to shoot and there were no people visible in my shot.  Waited for a few more seconds and then...   Just as I shot the picture about 20 feet to my left,  some ignoramus of a woman stepped over the line a few steps to "get her shot".  I was so upset, with the snap of my wrist, I whipped a small piece of ballast that hit her on her enormous rear end (she was wearing pink pants, I couldn't miss)  She dropped her camera (breaking it) and I kept shooting as if nothing happened and no one saw where the piece of ballast came from.  People were laughing so hard and that evening at dinner at the hotel it was a topic of many conversations.  I was young and foolish when I did that, she could have gotten hurt and I wasn't thinking, but it was funny.  Boy she was really PO'ed.

BOO!

Hot Water posted:

Basil posted:

I certainly need to know how many shots it took to capture that lightening!  That is a tremendously difficult thing to do!

Not as difficult as you might think in the "digital age". The flash/lights are synchronized with the camera, i.e. post the button and everything clicks at once.

Well not exactly. This was a handheld shot using all manual settings. I believe I counted 78 images before this one caught what I was looking for with the trains headlight and a huge lightning burst.

The other technique of keeping the shutter open for (name your number of seconds) was not an option for this shot. That requires a tripod and a remote shutter release or cable release to prevent shake, or a time delay (3 second) from pushing the shutter to exposing the image - once again to prevent shake and distortion.

Here is another one I like, taken in Shrewsbury MA. Click to enlarge.

Paul

Had always wanted to do this, so when there was a blizzard in the Washington DC area in 2009, managed to get to the station and hang out for about 20 minutes until we got a hit.  I say "we" because my then 6-year old son came along.  He was a real trooper while waiting, since we weren't even sure Amtrak was running.  Since we couldn't park at the MARC station, we had to walk a good distance through two feet of snow - he had to hop between my foot prints.   

Since trains weren't specified :-) and I've seen a few non-train images.  Luck, the right equipment, the right place.  Two US Navy A-7 attack jets in front of a partially eclipsed Sun while in the pattern to land on the carrier USS America (CV-66).   Taken from the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily, in March, 1984.

Two23 posted:

Well, if we're sticking to steam, I don't have all that much.  This will have to do.  As always, click on the photo to enlarge and see the detail captured.

 

Kent in SD

O. Winston Link? 

If you make it black and white and add a man and his son waving! 

I had forgotten about this one:

Big Jim posted:

I had forgotten about this one:

 

Man is THAT boring!!!!!

I liked it, never had a cab ride I did not like...in one way or another...

And if I was retired, I'd like something like this to see once in a while.   Jimmy, what was

the locomotive, how many engines did you have, what were you hauling, and what was the speed of the

train in the video?

But this is my favorite Big Jim video...   611

By the way, what was the grade here, and what do you suppose the horsepower output

of the big beauty was at that time hauling all that trailing tonnage, what a display!

Ed