The Day Family and Why This is My Last Photo Shoot on Train Tracks

What an incredible shoot. Of an amazing family. Taken in just a short amount of time, these kiddos were definitely showing off their parents amazing parenting skills by behaving wonderfully. And not just a couple of them, but ALL five –yes, five — were absolutely well behaved. I always walk into these sessions armed with patience, because you never know what kind of day everyone is having. And let’s be honest, it’s not all about parenting, the kids with the BEST parents in the universe have bad days too. So do we adults. But, armed with the patience I didn’t even have to use, I had such a relaxing, fun time with this gang and we finished in record time. It did help that we only chose one location (much more on that in a minute), even light, and through my discussions with Melissa, I knew exactly what she wanted out of her photos. Aren’t they amazing?

And aren’t those tracks gorgeous?? Sadly, however, this will be the last shoot I ever do on train tracks.

Last week, I posted one of these photos up on my Facebook Page for Melissa to see. Someone left a message teasing her about how it was illegal to have had these photos taken on railroad tracks. After reading it, I didn’t think much of it at first. I’ll first be honest and say that I’ve stepped over the boundaries and shot in a few places that were trespassing. When I lived in Arizona, a couple of photographer friends and I found some amazing places that turned out to be Indian land. In my naivety, I shot anyway not realizing that that, too, was trespassing. Chalk it up to a lack of common sense, had I really thought about it, I would’ve asked the right questions to figure it out. After considering the facts, I just felt it was plain disrespectful, so I stopped. I could find plenty other places that were on-limits. So when I really started thinking about why it would be illegal to shoot on tracks and asking myself those same questions that I had once before, I did a little digging. Turns out, there are a LOT of really good reasons not to.

Operation Lifesaver Rail Safety Education has six “must-know” tips for professional photographers considering a photo shoot near the tracks:

1. Trains can’t stop quickly to avoid people or vehicles on the tracks.

2. An optical illusion makes it hard to determine a train’s distance from you – and its speed.

3. The average train overhangs the track by at least three feet.

4. Railroad tracks, trestles, yards and rights-of-way are private property.

5. No tracks should be assumed to be abandoned or inactive.

6. People in your community mimic your behavior.

After reading this, the what-if’s started rolling through my head. What if a policeman caught us on the tracks? We could get a ticket and be fined LOTS of money. What if someone got stuck on the tracks? That image makes me shudder and the possibility makes me weak in the knees and sick to my stomach. Beyond the fines, embarrassment, injuries, or even death(that should stop us right there, huh?), it’s illegal. It’s trespassing and for good reason.

Let’s face its, like me, you’re probably reading this wondering how in the world could you miss a train that is barreling down the vibrating tracks making lots of tornado-like noise? I grew up acrossin a house that sat across a street and a field from railroad tracks and it would make our house vibrate! How could you miss that? Unfortunately, it happens all the time.

“Last year, more than 800 people were injured or killed while trespassing on railroad property in the U.S., according to preliminary Federal Railroad Administration statistics.” – ORI

Last year, a California photography teacher was taking photos of trains. While she was pointing her camera at a train coming towards her, she was struck and killed by another train coming from behind while she was standing on another set of tracks. It can happen to anyone.

I’m definitely not writing my reasonings to other photographers and, let’s face it, anyone who owns a camera, to condemn your choices for why you may or may not continue to shoot on tracks, but rather to educate you. I was not educated on the facts. I made my decisions on naivety and really didn’t think through everything well. I wasn’t putting the safety of my clients very first, which is very important to me and my business and should be my number one goal.

And if you’re wondering, my client knows that I’ve slightly hijacked her gorgeous family photos with a little education about photo shoots on train tracks :). She thinks it’s worth it too and slightly happy that I wised up after the photos :).