Ok, I might be flamed for this , but I have to express how disturbed I am by the current trend of taking portraits on train tracks. Sure the final photo looks good, but it is still very dangerous and you are taking a huge risk whenever you do this. Even if you have the train schedule, there are times when unscheduled maintenance trains use the tracks, and if the wind is blowing the wrong way, you often can not hear the train until it is too late to move out of the way, especially if you are working with little kids.

That is another thing- even if you tell little kids not to play on the tracks, if you then bring them to a train track and have them play and pose for a while during the photo shoot, they will then, in their little minds, think that it is ok to play on the tracks- and this could end up in a huge tragedy.
Also, if they see photos of others posed on train tracks, they will again think it must not be dangerous, and could end up with a tragic death or disfigurement.


I live in the northeast , and believe me, we still get news reports every now and then of people being hit by trains. It is not something to be taken lightly.

I am not going to flame you for this but I do disagree. You can choose to not shoot on tracks for the reasons you describe- I know a lot of photographers that do not shoot certain things or locations for specific reasons- however if a client wants to shoot shots on the tracks you end up with a choice. Shoot on the tracks or loose a client.

To purpose that a train can sneak up on you is a bit absurb. I live in a commuity that has a major track running right through it with more than 60 trains per day. A second track is being put in to increase the trains to more than 100 per day.

The only train accidents we have had is a car driven by a drunk and a pedestrian that was drunk.

If you get tunnel vision to the degree that you fail to look up and around every few minutes or that you can't hear or feel a train coming- there are hundreds of locations that could be dangerous for you to shoot in.

It is the parents responsibility to parent the kids not a photographer that spends an hour with them.

ya like family portraits on the beach next to the ocean...
have you ever seen those killer whales come up on the beach and snack on seals? we better be more careful....

oh and children in a field of flowers...killer bees can really do a number on kids....

wait theres more.....

studio lights....they can scare babies....

forgive me for being so NOT serious.....

dont hate me...

but seriously, if its too windy to hear trains, nobody is going to be doing a shoot.....

Originally Posted by AaronNelson ya like family portraits on the beach next to the ocean... have you ever seen those killer whales come up on the beach and snack on seals? we better be more careful.... oh and children in a field of flowers...killer bees can really do a number on kids.... wait theres more..... studio lights....they can scare babies....

That's not really very helpful Aaron...

Blaker: It's a valid concern and since you come from an area that apparently has occasional pedestrian vs train accidents it probably seems very real to you.

Where I live, several years ago, there were frequently people stopping on the highways to get pictures of bears, posing with bears, pictures of kids feeding bears, etc. You get the idea I think. Needless to say from time to time someone would lose a finger, an arm, a face etc.

The message I think you want to resonate with people is "Be mindful of your surroundings when shooting". Am I right?

Originally Posted by MagicKiwi Am I right?

seriously, yes you are right.


not so seriously: now lets go feed some hungry bears

Originally Posted by AaronNelson seriously, yes you are right. not so seriously: now lets go feed some hungry bears

LOL! Man, I'm serious! These people would run out with a couple twinkies from the picnic basket for a photo-op. Not humanity's brightest huh? Personally I find it very comedic when Darwin's long arm reaches out to throw a little chlorine in the gene pool.

Originally Posted by MagicKiwi That's not really very helpful Aaron... Blaker: It's a valid concern and since you come from an area that apparently has occasional pedestrian vs train accidents it probably seems very real to you. Where I live, several years ago, there were frequently people stopping on the highways to get pictures of bears, posing with bears, pictures of kids feeding bears, etc. You get the idea I think. Needless to say from time to time someone would lose a finger, an arm, a face etc. The message I think you want to resonate with people is "Be mindful of your surroundings when shooting". Am I right?

It's more of a concern because kids will often emulate their parents, and if they've been involved in a photo shoot on the tracks, then in their minds the train tracks are no longer dangerous, because they are there with their family playing on the tracks ( which is also illegal, btw).
Then one day they are out playing with their friends, and they remember this really cool place where they played on the tracks having their photos taken, and they ride their
bikes there, and are riding on the tracks, not paying attention, and a train comes and whoosh!! A tragedy. It does happen, and it only has to happen once, to your kid, for it to be driven home.
I also think if kids are passing by a photo of themselves, or their friends, playing on the tracks it becomes commonplace to them, and they don't think of the tracks as a dangerous place to be.
I have family who have worked on the RR as engineers for 2 generations and believe me, playing on the tracks for any reason should really not be taken lightly.
As for hearing the train, it's documented that depending on the location and wind direction ( and I'm not talking a blustering windy day) you will not hear the train coming until it is very close, and how easy is it if your'e sitting on tracks to have a piece of clothing get caught on the ties, or when trying to round up a couple of kids who are NOT paying attention to get everyone far enough away avoid injury?
I'm just saying, family portraits is a field where you are not required to take this kind of risk, or make a dangerous activity seem commonplace and not dangerous at all, so why would you?

Keep in mind, as well, it is against the law to trespass on train tracks. You have more to be concerned with than the possiblity of an oncoming train.

good grief here we go again.....look at the statistics....it's probably in the realm of 1000 times more dangerous to get into your car and drive to the train tracks, but you would not even give that a second thought.

Originally Posted by GP Images good grief here we go again.....look at the statistics....it's probably in the realm of 1000 times more dangerous to get into your car and drive to the train tracks, but you would not even give that a second thought.

Yeah, but #1) That's not illegal
and #2) That would be adults doing the driving


In terms of risk, you could probably leave an unopened bottle of prescription meds sitting on the coffee table and your 3 year old probably wouldn't eat them all and die, but do you want to take that risk with your kids?

You could probably safely leave your infant/toddler alone at home while you run out to the post office/quickmart and nothing would happen to them, but do you want to take that risk with your child?

You could probably tell your child not to play in the street, not to talk to strangers, not to run with scissors, not to play with fire, but would you really leave them alone with scissors, matches, etc and trust them not to be in danger?

Not to mention, playing on train tracks, ( and yeah, doing a portrait session on train tracks is equivalent to "playing") is illegal.

Sure, there are risks associated with everything we do, but as responsible parents and adult members of society, I think it's important to minimize the risks to our children, who are not mature enough to make informed decisions about which risks they are willing to take.

How about we get back to taking, posting, and critiquing pictures people?

I don't think any of us come to this site for morality and parenting help so lets keep the preaching to a minimum.


If nothing else move this thread to The Big Picture as that is the level it seems to be on.

Originally Posted by anwmn1 How about we get back to taking, posting, and critiquing pictures people? I don't think any of us come to this site for morality and parenting help so lets keep the preaching to a minimum. If nothing else move this thread to The Big Picture as that is the level it seems to be on.

Aron,

You couldn't be more wrong! This is important stuff. Now rather than sit around and just talk about these death traps we need to do something!

Train tracks kill people. Simple: Remove them from the landscape. Bears kill people feeding them Twinkies: Kill all the bears.

Oh, and while we are on the subject over 600 people have fallen into the Grand Canyon. We need to fill it in. After all who needs a big hole in the ground?

Y'all can can thank me later.

Sam

Sam, i am sorry for the Grand Canyon...one of my backyard sprinklers broke while on a shoot for Amtrac...i will get to fixing the issue myself no need to be calling the authorities

Originally Posted by AaronNelson Sam, i am sorry for the Grand Canyon...one of my backyard sprinklers broke while on a shoot for Amtrac...i will get to fixing the issue myself no need to be calling the authorities

Again you make light of a serious situation.

As a public service I have two photos that demonstrate very dangerous behavior. Do not try and emulate these obvious idiotic extremes to get a darn photo.

And no I have no idea who this is in the photo.

Sam

Again don't try this at home.

Sam

Originally Posted by anwmn1 How about we get back to taking, posting, and critiquing pictures people? I don't think any of us come to this site for morality and parenting help so lets keep the preaching to a minimum. If nothing else move this thread to The Big Picture as that is the level it seems to be on.

I think we should make this the official train track thread-

1.

2.

3.

It's a nice warning.
Trains are dangerous, no questions about it.
However, having two people on the tracks constanly looking in two opposite directions (photog looking towards model, model looking towars the camera) along the tracks kinda diminishes the chances to a value akin to be hit by lighting. Seriously, how many people were killed by trains while being engaged to a photoshoot?

Yes, we as photogs do have to be aware of the shooting environment, be it a narrow ledge in GC/HSB/CDC, a dark alley in LA/NYC, or a train track. But I really can't say any one is a known killer if you play your cards right and do do obviously stupid things.

Originally Posted by family guy I think we should make this the official train track thread

I'm heading to Moorpark or Fillmore asap.

Originally Posted by Sam Again don't try this at home. Sam

In addition to train tracks thread we need to have an official "Life on the edge" one.
Sam, you should start
I believe kdog has a few from HSB,
and I have things like this of Aaron on the rim of CDC: