Two days ago we moved from a big quiet 4br house way out on Long Island into a tiny 1br apartment closer to NYC for a few months. Doesn't sound like much fun, but on the plus side there are some *pretty* decent views, which are even better from the roof of the place. So I went up there tonight with my cruddy tripod and took some shots of the Empire State, the skyline, the Queensboro bridge, the subway, the traffic, and of course the trains. Mike Johannessen showed me his panning setup a year or two ago and although I don't have the gear, I thought I'd steal the idea on a few trains coming out of the East River tunnels and heading out onto Long Island or to Sunnyside for turning and stabling. Result: a few wobbly, dark, bad pics. Then this guy showed up - maybe he was transitioning from third rail to onboard diesel power because his pickup shoe made a big flash before he came slowly into view. Then he flashed just as I pushed the shutter which lit up the dark loco and everything - wow - did I get that? I like taking remote flash pictures, but this was the remotest one ever. 1 sec at f 3.2 ISO 160 200mm if you're taking notes!
Pace and pan shots of trains from on the ground or in the air. If you're not in the locomotive cab or on-board the train, it's the next best thing to being there.
