Steam and Sun at Sumpter Valley. A sunny, cold fall morning finds a Sumpter Valley Log Train pulling away from the McEwen Tank, leaving billowing clouds of steam in her wake. She's headed west toward Prairie City, with scheduled stops at Sumpter, Whitney and Austin along the route.
I've photographed lots of steam engines in cold weather over the years, but rarely have I seen one make a run-by quite as pretty as this one. The clear sky, the cold temperature (18F) and dead calm wind conditions in the McEwen Yard not only produced copious amounts of visible steam from the loco's exhaust, but the individual bursts from her cylinder cocks seemed to linger like a chain of little, ground-bound cumulus clouds. Knowing that the RP Audience usually doesn't favor monochrome images, I normally shy away from that format, but one look at the contrasts in this scene convinced me that I needed to make an exception here. This is one of the few times I've ever shot directly into the sun.....and ended up being really pleased with the result.
Landscape photography is difficult due to the challenge of combining good light and good scenery. Good railroad photography enters another level of complexity since it requires the first two while there is a train in view.
