Hugging Chicago’s lakefront, the original Illinois Central Railroad mainline was built in 1856 and electrified in 1926. Today, it is one of Metra’s busiest stretches of commuter railroad, with hundreds of daily trains carrying thousands of commuters into the Loop at Millennium Station. South of Roosevelt Road, there are also a few freight trains along the line, six tracks wide at this point. Sunday night, we were lucky enough to find one of those freight trains approaching the 35th St. overpass, under the ever-present Willis Tower, its headlight illuminating the wide right of way of the Mainline of Mid-America. Read the rest of this entry »
After having a preliminary meeting about a wedding I’m shooting next month, I headed west to find some nice light. The sun was sinking rapidly by the time I got out of the suburbs, and not only that, but a rapidly approaching bank of clouds was diffusing any sunset light I might have had. However, as the warm-weather storm clouds advanced towards Chicago, they broke up just enough to allow some of the late evening light through and produce some dramatic skies. I was counting on shooting some agriculture/country/rural scenes with these neat skies, yet I was also close to the railroad, as well as a nice grain elevator that I’ve used before for some nice effects. All I needed was a train to complete the scene, and I even busted out the flashes to set up. However, due to the economic slump, there are very few trains running on the Union Pacific mainline, or any mainline at that. One could usually count on freight trains being stacked up waiting out the Metra rush curfew before heading into the city, perfect for some late evening light shooting. That was not the case yesterday, as everything was quiet, very quiet. And I had to settle for this:
Shortly after the sun had set on a beautiful fall evening, I came across this scene along the Union Pacific tracks near Creston, IL. The coal train nearest to the camera is stopped, waiting for clear track ahead to continue it’s journey to Chicago and it’s power plant destination. In the distance, another headlight can be seen, this coming from a train pulling in behind the coal train to wait out the rush hour traffic jam that awaits up ahead in Metra territory. While this action is taking place on the busy transcontinental mainline of a Class One railroad, nearby, a farmer is in his field, working late hours to harvest his corn crop, stirring up a cloud of dust.
As always, click the thumbnail above for the big version.
Photoshelter Revisited
After I posted my thoughts on the new site changes over at Photoshelter on Monday, they posted a video that explains some of them in greater detail. It’s pretty neat, and if you are a Photoshelter subscriber, you really should start taking advantage of these new features. If you aren’t a subscriber, maybe watching this video will change your mind.
Also, I’ve added several new categories to my virtual agency. Please check it out.
If you want to join up, just send me an email! nick(at)nicksuydam(dot)com.
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