Sand Hill

a409will
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Sand Hill
Sand Hill

Headed into the Mojave. Gordo had driven up in his bus after yesterday’s shoot and slept in a rest area. I stayed at the hotel, waking every couple hours so I could rotate all the batteries through the chargers. It was nearly 10 am by the time they were done and I was fully awake and somewhat rehydrated.

Coffee and egg sandwich from Starbucks and a sandwich for lunch and a salad for dinner from Walmart. Forgot to get some sunscreen. I should have gotten some chapstick.

It’s an hour and a half to Ludlow. The wildfire smoke dissipated along the way. I drove through a dust storm.
After meeting up at the town’s gas station we drove out a disconnected section of Route 66 until we came to a bridge out. Left the roadway and continued to a dirt road via a wash. On the west side of town is a 100’ high hill covered in sand and volcanic rock. We set up on the far side of the hill. We tried to guess how far we could see in either direction. 20 miles? Only one other car came through all day.

Today’s lighting setup was a little less technically challenging than yesterday’s. I made a few mistakes including leaving my camera at the top of the hill. Gordo seemed far less affected - perhaps he’s acclimated during the last couple weeks. Perhaps I can’t be trusted in the desert.

We lit up just about 3/4 of a mile of track with the 8 speed lights on hand. We lifted one light up to probably 16’ feet by placing it on the roof of the bus.

As soon as we finished setting up the lights a flood of trains arrived. We photographed the first two and cleaned up while trains passed in both directions. On the way out, saw flashing yellow lights used on railroad trucks. It pulled up as I refueled at the gas station. “Are you rail fans or railroad employees?” He repeated my answers into his radio and I left after taking on 7 gallons for my trip back to Cajon Pass via Barstow.

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Taken on: January 19, 2025
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with Mojave Mojave Everybody's photos tagged with desert desert Everybody's photos tagged with Ludlow Ludlow more » Everybody's photos tagged with california california Everybody's photos tagged with needles sub needles sub Everybody's photos tagged with night night Everybody's photos tagged with train train « less
Sets appears in:   • Trains At Night   
Groups appears in:   • Quality Black & White Images    • Quality and Exceptional Railway Photographs   
Camera: Nikon D850, f/4.0, 20 sec, 92mm, ISO 2000 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: 80.0-200.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/4.0
Exposure Time: 20
Focal Length: 92mm
ISO: 2000
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Manual
Light Source: Day White Fluorescent
Gain Control: Low gain up
Sharpness: Hard
Color Space: Uncalibrated
Software: Adobe Photoshop 26.2 (Macintosh)
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