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Applying the Project-Based Approach to Railroad Photography
How I use this special photography technique to gain focus
By
Alexander B. Craghead
Published:
August 25, 2010  The mainline freight train cruising through the rugged scenery of the West, such as this one at Maryhill, Wash., in 2005, has become a mainstay of railroad photography. It is also a highly romanticized piece of visual rhetoric that played a key role in the author's decision to create a photography project that emphasized alternative views on the subject.
Photo by Alexander B. Craghead  Close-up, low depth-of-field images play a key role in the author’s project. By placing objects close to the camera, texture is emphasized, creating a feeling of intimacy with the viewer, as if the objects were really within arm's reach.
Photo by Alexander B. Craghead  Another stylistic aspect is point-of-view. Here, the author has chosen a low point-of-view that mimics the actual perspective of a railroad worker going in-between cars to connect air brake hoses.
Photo by Alexander B. Craghead  This sketch from the author’s notebook shows a concept for a photograph of a gated railroad spur. Sketches such as these can help a photographer pre-plan compositions, as well as serve as concept touchstones against which to measure the success of images shot.
Photo by Alexander B. Craghead  Here we see an image of a spur behind a locked gate in the northwest area of Portland, Ore. This April 2010 image shows the actual photograph that resulted from the author’s notebook pre-plan sketches.
Photo by Alexander B. Craghead
The genesis of a project is often the collision of multiple ideas, influences, and inspirations. For me, two ideas recently merged. The first was the idea of the Railroad World, an insular and often lonely place where the contemporary railroad employee works and lives on a daily basis. The second was my observation of contemporary railroad photography, which I find to be overly romanticized. After a hiatus from serious shooting of railroad subjects, I felt a strong pull to create something new that combined these two ideas. With my intent clearly staked at depicting the world of the railroad worker in a grittier way, I gave the project the working title of "RRR," which stands for "realistic railroad."
Influences
I considered my creative influences, pouring over books and magazines, attending photography exhibits, and viewing online galleries. In my case, I found few photographers who were doing anything remotely close to what I was looking to do. The strongest influences were Lee Friedlander's "driver's eye view" photos, which emphasized the idea of the photograph being the actual perspective of a car's driver. To a lesser degree, the photographs of Joel Jensen held some of the tone I was hoping to capture, albeit through a different compositional arrangement. Examining this aspect helped me to determine whether there were any photographic traditions to build off of or to react against.
Influences, of course, are not limited to the works of other photographers; they extend also to other forms of art, as well as to experiences. For me, Linda Niemann's heartbreaking, rough-edged stories of life in the Railroad World were a big motivator for what I wanted to convey through this series. Another non-photographic influence: my personal experience of the Railroad World, which culminated in a brief time in the freight rail industry. Considering influences beyond the works of other photographers enriched my understanding of what I wanted to communicate, and helped me to clarify my intent with this series.
Planning
Generally the easiest part of planning a project is choosing the subject. Determining what a photographer will and will not point his or her camera at is, in my view, the absolute minimum of defining a project. Sometimes, however, the intent of a series can make even this portion of a project plan challenging, as it did in my case. Given that I wanted to illustrate the world of the railroad employee, the subject list became constrained. Office interiors, cut levers and grab irons, isolated industrial spurs, and the tight spaces between cars all became important entries on my list of possible subjects.
Being specific here, however, helped a great deal once I began to shoot images for the project. Defining the subject led me to a specific list of targets for individual images. I find it helpful to list subject ideas regardless of their practicality or tangibility; my list includes "driving to work at the railroad" despite the fact that I have yet to think of a way to suitably illustrate this.
The last major concern is style. What compositions, perspectives, and stylistic choices would best convey the project's intent? I wanted my images to evoke the feeling of being the railroad worker, so an emphasis on conveying texture and closeness was important. This drove me to use a lot of wide-angle, close-up, and macro perspectives. It also led me to mostly exclude views that were typical of the non-employee general public, such as distant views of train exteriors and other conventional railfan angles.
Other concerns might include technical aspects such as medium, format, and outlet. For this project, these were of less importance, and I chose to use 35mm black-and-white film for pragmatic reasons: I had the equipment already in hand and I wanted to build up negatives to print in a darkroom later, since I enjoy making prints the traditional way. This would also produce images suitable for a variety of types of outlet, allowing me to put off that decision and get on with making the photographs.
When I began to make the actual photographs, all of this pre-planning helped create a stronger project. With a very distinctive definition in my head (as well as in my notebook), many of the images for the series began to form in my mind long before the first photo shoot in the field. Using my subject list as a start, I began to sketch out concepts for compositions. As an example, many industrial spurs are located beyond chain-link gates, which switchmen will have to unlock and open prior to spotting or pulling cars. Immediately the idea of a locked gate with tracks beyond it popped into my mind. I sketched this concept out very roughly in my notebook next to that subject idea. Later, in the field, I looked for locations that were similar to what I had sketched, and eventually found one that matched my vision. I compare this approach to the way that movies are planned and shot. I have a sort of plot and a series of scenes I need, and then I locate these scenes in the real world and photograph them.
Taking this intentional, idea-centered approach also means that the project itself can be refined further over time. I always have my ideas, concepts, subject lists, and in some cases sketches to go back and check my progress against. I also have them as touchstones for measuring the focus of my progress, so that if I drift away from my original concepts I can either correct for the drift or adjust my intentions.
Conclusion
My take on project-based approaches to railroad photography is rather methodical and not the only worthwhile method. I hope, however, that other photographers will be inspired to consider their ideas and their intent, to predefine their subjects and their stylistic choices, and to try pre-planning their compositions. The results of such effort can be very rewarding, leading to greater satisfaction, creativity, and technical achievement.
ALEXANDER B. CRAGHEAD is a member of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, which provides monthly stories for the Trains newsletter. Craghead is a photographer, journalist, and self-described "transportation geek." He lives and works in the Portland, Ore., metropolitan area. See more of his work at route99west.com.
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