Our two carloads, plus hundreds of other folks interested in the steam train thought this scenic location with the high trestle would be a good place for photos. It is an uphill grade, so we knew the steamer would be working hard and putting on a good show. The hills were alive with the sound of shutters clicking as the train made its way up the canyon and over the bridge. I was shooting both film and video at the same time, something not easy to do well.
Once the train was past, everyone climbed down the hillsides from their various locations, packed up their gear, and jumped into our cars to head for the next photo location a number of miles down the road. Once we arrived and got setup for the next shot, one of us, I don't remember from which car, thought to ask "where's John?" A dialogue similar to "I thought he was riding with you" "I thought he was with YOU" ensued, until we determined that he was indeed with neither of us. In our haste to depart the previous location, each group had assumed John was with the other. Our car backtracked to the previous location to find John walking down the road, where we picked him up, made a quick U turn, and were on our way to more photos.
You'll notice the annoying buzzing in the audio - that was from a helicopter that followed the train all the way from Portland. None of us shooting video were very happy about that.
Why in the wide wide world of sports would a helicopter follow a train all the way to portland?
ReplyDeleteAlso this is great footage. Our descendants may some day needs such footage to remind them what a train is.....
Lastly Poor John.....the Deschutes isn't really a place I would want to be lost alone....Hot, dry, deserted and NO CELL PHONE RECEPTION!!
Leanne- To answer your questions:
ReplyDeleteThe chopper followed the train allegedly filming a commercial video of the excursion. IIRC, that video was never released. If that is so, all it did was spoil the experience of a lot of trackside spectators.
Unfortunately, technology gets in the way of seeing this in the future. Since it changes so rapidly, there may not be anyway to view it in later years. I shot this on digital video tape, which has been superseded by digital memory cards. My camcorder still works, so I can still watch the complete tape, but when that dies it could be tough to find one that will show them. I've converted some footage to digital files, but only a matter of time before that format also becomes obsolete and unviewable. The only sure fire, foolproof method to preserve images for the future is a hard copy print, on suitable archival material that can be viewed without the need for any technology. Something to think about with any digital information, be it a picture, video, book or written document.
Luckily John wasn't abandoned for too long. Once we did go back to pick him up, we all thought it was pretty humorous. He's one of my Facebook friends, as are all the other guys who were on that trip. I'm surprised that none has commented yet.