This essay focusses on railway photography, but most of its content will just as easily apply to any type of landscape or travel photography. The Alps can be a bit dodgy in the winter as far as snow is concerned, but central eastern Europe should be different. Romania, in particular the northern part situated in the Carpathian mountains, should be a safe bet for snow in winter. Good chance of nice cold sunny weather illuminating these snow covered mountain scenes had enticed me to join a winter tour there.

Whether it's climate change or simply bad luck I can't say, but after a little bit of sun on the first day it didn't reappear until the day we left. In between the weather was overcast and rainy. Only one day boasted a pathetically small amount of fresh snow. What to do. Cry, stay in bed, sulk, go home, find a new hobby, perform ritual suicide are some of the things that come to mind. The first few options aren't all that bad, but you've travelled a long way and paid a lot of money to be there. How to get great or even just interesting shots under these conditions?

Be prepared

Never go on tour without equipment that will cover all eventualities. Take clothing to cover the whole range of not just the expected but also the possible weather. Always take an umbrella (to keep your camera dry). Take waterproof clothes to keep yourself dry. Wet conditions make it feel colder than dry conditions. Take your thermal underwear and use it. Take waterproof boots that are actually waterproof and will work in the mud and slush of melting snow on unpaved roads. If shooting film, take fast film, better still, take fast black and white film. Or finally take the plunge and go digital. Your 50 asa colour film simply won't cut it. Above all, go prepared with photographic ideas to suit any weather.

Shoot what will work in poor light, not what would work in perfect light On the tour I saw too many participants shooting as if the weather was perfect and the sun was shining. Okay, you can try to shoot the standard railway shots and the standard landscape shots, but they will only work if you adapt to the conditions. . Think black and white . Look for contrast . Use the atmosphere . Think people shots When there is very little colour in the scenery, white or light grey snow and dark, grey trees and bushes with the occasional black steam engine you need to start thinking in black and white even if you don't actually shoot b&w. Position yourself to shoot the dark train against a light background. Frame around the few positions that actually allow this. Don't waste effort on shooting a dark train against a dark background. No amount of post-processing is ever going to salvage those shots. Forget the standard angle at the standard location. Yes you've seen plenty of shots taken there in magazines or on the internet, and you want that same shot. But remember those shots were taken in perfect weather. Try moving in closer. Try using a long lens. Try shooting from the opposite side of the track. Try shooting from below, getting the train against the grey sky or shoot to exclude the sky. Be creative! A steam train creates its own atmosphere. Use its steam to full effect. With a long lens used head on you can fill the frame with steam. It might not be the greatest shot of all times, but will be a lot better than filling the frame with boring greyness.

Shoot early and late

Low light shots work in any weather. There won't be any great sunset or sunrise shots, but tripod shots in the depot with the air filled with steam and the scene lit with artificial light will still work just fine. They may even work better than in clear weather. Okay, locals and railway workers may think you're completely mad. Walking around in the dark, with an umbrella protecting your tripod mounted camera. Dodging pools or actually standing in pools, looking for reflections, occasionally sheltering in the loco shed when the rain gets too heavy. Well did you join the tour to become popular with the local girls or did you come to do some quality photography? If there is any powerful lighting present you can use it like you would the sun, to shoot silhouettes or get glintshots. Anything goes to create atmosphere.

Capture the environment as it is

The railway doesn't only run in good weather, and doesn't only run for us photographers. It runs all the time. Show the conditions the railway workers have to work in. How they keep warm and dry, or how they don't. If the standard landscape shot is the only trick you know, now is the time to diversify.

Postprocessing

This was the first tour I took a subnotebook with me. I decided to take one along because I'd be away from home longer than usual. It proved its worth! In good light you know how the shots are going to look. In poor light you can never be sure. I enjoyed looking back at the shots in the evening, doing some preliminary editing and seeing what worked and what didn't. Seeing that some shots actually worked quite well kept my spirits up and encouraged me to actually get up the next day. You'll need to be prepared to spend a little more time in post-processing than in perfect weather conditions. Coaxing the maximum possible contrast out of an image without it looking artificial can be a real challenge. Doing so in a b&w image is easier than in colour, as you don't have to worry about colourshifts if you go at it too hard. That said, my perspective may be down to my limited editing skills.

Accompanying images

Using the above methods I managed to get up to 10 presentable shots each day, in the end yielding up to five really good images. I've included some examples of the images I shot. None of them are shots I would have taken this way in perfect weather conditions. I'm not claiming they are perfect or even great, but they were good enough to prevent the tour being a complete failure. Have a look and see how I worked with the weather. I am not saying you should venture out in all weather, but if you find yourself somewhere special and know you might not have an opportunity to repeat it, think of the tips mentioned above and try to make the best of it.

About the Author

Ian Lawrence lives in the Netherlands and works as a civil engineer (piping and pipelining). He spends his spare time photographing trains in their surroundings, always looking for the perfect shot in the best light. As the Netherlands don’t have many locations where he can get the type of shots he likes, he travels abroad whenever he can.

More of his work can be seen on his homepage at www.railway-photography.net