December 6, 2017 – Day 37– iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – All Aboard

December 6, 2017 – Day 36 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – All Aboard – Today’s photo is one of many from my trip to Chicago, Illinois today. I made a point on this trip to challenge myself to do a series of photographs called “My view from Amtrak 360” which I shared a link to here on my Facebook page yesterday, if you’d like to see more from the trip. All were shot with the iPhone 7 Plus. #iphone7plus #iphonephotography #jimpearsonphotography

December 5, 2017 – Day 36 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge – Where’s the Lampshades?

December 5, 2017 – Day 36 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Where’s the Lampshades? – You never know where you’re going to find an interesting photo!! Tonight, I was wandering around in J.C. Penny’s waiting on my sister when I spotted this display of legs! It screamed black and white to me from across the store and I couldn’t resist. An interesting note is that if I had my Fuji XT-1 or Nikon D800 and tried to shoot this photo from inside a major retailer, I probably would have been stopped. However, with a little ole iPhone, no problem!!! Never mind that many of our newer smart phones are capable these days of shooting photos that are magazine quality!! #iphone7plus

BNSF southbound in Cajon Pass, Cajon, CA

June 19, 2006 – A BNSF mixed freight, with different paint schemes on the four lead units, heads southbound through the Cajon Pass in southern California, in this view from the famous train watching spot called Hill 582.

December 4, 2017 – Day 35 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Karate

December 4, 2017 – Day 35 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Karate – My nephew Damion Is into Karate these days and as I sat watching his “Little Warrior’s” practice today I shot this photo with my iPhone 7 Plus Camera of him learning a new kick. To get the shot I wanted I had to use the zoom and if you look closely you can see the quality isn’t the greatest. I realize the iPhone 7 has a dual lens, but if you zoom beyond the optical limits of the camera it goes to a digital zoom, which just blows up the pixels, which isn’t nearly as good a quality. However, any picture is better than none!

December 3, 2017 – Day 34 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Jeremiah

December 3, 2017 – Day 34 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Jeremiah – My nephew Jeremiah has one of the most expressive faces!! That, along with the nice lighting on his face helped make this one of my favorite portraits I’ve shot of him so far! When photographing kids, I can’t stress enough that you have to be patient and quick!

December 2, 2017 – Day 33 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Shadows

December 2, 2017 – Day 33 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Shadows – I’ve always been fascinated by shadows! They just seem to be part of another demission in my option!! I wandered downtown to the Christmas Festivities in my hometown of Madisonville, Ky and found this shot at the “Ice” skating rink the city had setup there for the day. It’s not really ice, but a plastic material that has a slick spray coating on it. Either way it was very popular and crowded! I think I had to shoot 20-30 photos before I got one with just shadows and a composition that I liked! Sometime when you find a scene that will make a good photograph, but it’s just lacking that special something, just stand around and wait! There’s a good chance that it will come together! #iphone7plus

Smithsonian Subway Stop, Washington, DC

October 2, 2012 – Commuters wait on the platform as a metro train pulls into the Smithsonian Metro Station in Washington, DC, as another train waits to depart on the opposing track.

December 1, 2017 – Day 32 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Pound Puppy


December 1, 2017 – Day 32 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Pound Puppy – I took my niece Elaina to her mom’s work to wait for her to get off this afternoon and while we were sitting in the RAV4 she kept say, what is that from the backseat. I couldn’t quite tell if she was talking about a game on her tablet or what until she pointed at the window in front of where we were parked and there appeared to be a little “Pound Puppy” sitting looking at the car! Well, I never let a photo opportunity pass by, so we got out, so I could take a picture of it when Elaina stepped in to the scene and looked up at the puppy. Click!!! Black and White picture of the day!! Thanks Elaina! Always be aware of your surroundings that may lend themselves to a picture, and sometimes take a kid along so they can point out things right in front of you! LOL – #iphone7plus

BNSF 7902 leads a loaded intermodal through the famous “Sullivan’s Curve”…


September 27, 2011 – BNSF 7902 leads a loaded intermodal through the famous “Sullivan’s Curve” as it heads north up the Cajon Pass in southern California.

“Sullivans Curve is where the Union Pacific Palmdale Cutoff, and the BNSF mains 1 and 2 curve in a large horseshoe curve directly next to some large, rather impressive, rock formations. Promotional photos taken at this curve for the Santa Fe in the 1930’s through the 1950’s by photographer Herb Sullivan were fantastic, and made famous by their composition. The curve that he used so frequently was named in his honor, and rightfully so.”

CSX G192 empty grain northbound at Robards, Ky

November 20, 2017 – CSX MOW crews work on finishing the installation of the new cantilever signal bridge at the new south end of Robards, Ky, as empty grain train G192 heads north on the Henderson Subdivision. At left is the new track being installed that will join the current sidings at Sebree and Robards, Ky together to create a new two track main that will run from the two towns. While the new track hasn’t connected to the sidings as of yet, crews are moving closer everyday.CSX G192 empty grain NB at Robards, Ky

BNSF Freight northbound in Cajon Pass, CA


September 27, 2011 – The sun begins to dip in the sky as a loaded BNSF freight train heads north up the grade in the Cajon Pass in southern California, approaching the Summit of the pass as BNSF 7726 leads the way. Shooting directly into the sun can cause many exposure issues, but if you get it right it can make for some spectacular photographs.

I shot this as a RAW file on a Nikon D700 Full Frame Camera and exposed more for the sun, but made sure I still had enough exposure in the midtones by checking my histogram.

By doing this I was able to bring the highlights down in RAW to bring the sun more in line with the rest of the photo and also used a gradient filter to help control the brightness of the sky. I also opened up the shadows in RAW to bring out the detail my sensor captured there, resulting is this final scene.

BNSF in Cajon Pass with 4 different paint schemes, Cajon, CA

June 19, 2006 – A complete mashup of BNSF power, with different paint schemes, move a mixed freight train southbound down the Cajon Pass in southern California with a couple helpers on the rear, in this view from the famous train watching spot called Hill 582.

Day 31 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Being Silly

November 30, 2017 – Day 31 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Being Silly – My niece Elaina is one of my little shutterbugkids and today she came and asked me if she could shoot pictures, so I give her my iPhone 7 plus. She wandered around the house and front porch photographing two of her favorite subjects, my cats! Eventually she ended up back in my office wanting to shoot a selfie with me. After she got her shots I asked if I could shoot one and started to shoot it thinking it’d be my picture for the day, when she said, wait, I need glasses like you! Wouldn’t that be funny? So, she got another pair of the Dollar Tree readers that I have all over the house and put them on. Of course, to add to the silliness the tongues came out for the picture! When photographing kids it never hurts to take their direction as it can make for interesting photos! LOL If you’d like to see some of her work or that of her brother and cousins pay a visit to http://www.shutterbugkids.org. There’s links there for their Facebook and Instagram accounts, which have their most current photos.

Day 30 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Boxes

November 29, 2017 – Day 30 – iPhone Daily B&W Photo Challenge: Boxes – What is about kids and boxes? Capturing photos of kids in their everyday environment, doing what kids do, can be a challenge. The key is to shoot, shoot, shoot, until you get that special picture that sings to you. With digital you can really never shoot too much! My nephew Damion had been feeling under the weather for several days and when he asked me if he could build a house out of a box this afternoon I couldn’t refuse! Of course, I knew that in the process there’d be a good picture or two! LOL All my nieces and nephews know me and my obsession with taking pictures!

Western Kentucky Railway pulling a freight north of Providence, Ky


January 25, 2003 – I wish I had shot more of this shortline railway before it disappeared in 2010. Here I caught a set of engines from the Western Kentucky Railway pulling a freight north of Providence, Ky with a light dusting of snow on the ground. The power was 3419 (Ex. Texas and New Orleans Railroad, GP10), 1342 (Ex. Rock Island, GP18) and 1338 (Ex. Rock Island, GP18).

According to Wikipedia, the Western Kentucky Railway (reporting mark WKRL) was a shortline railroad in Kentucky, that connected coal mines with CSX Transportation at Providence. The lines were part of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad until March 1982, when Costain Coal, Inc. bought the trackage and set up the Tradewater Railway (reporting mark TWRY) to operate it. In January 1995, the Rail Management and Consulting Corporation acquired the property and transferred it to the new Western Kentucky Railway. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. acquired it from the Rail Management Corporation in 2005. In 2010, WKRL abandoned all of its remaining lines north of Providence, and the rails were removed shortly after. The only remaining tracks that were originally owned by WKRL are operated by Martin Marrieta Aggregates’ Fredonia Valley Railroad from Princeton to Fredonia.

When created in 1995, the Western Kentucky Railway owned lines from Providence to a junction at Blackford, and from Blackford north to Waverly and south to the Paducah and Louisville Railway at Princeton. Most of the north-south line, once the main line of the Ohio Valley Railway (an Illinois Central Railroad predecessor) was abandoned in 1995 and 1996, leaving only the piece between Blackford and Dekoven. (The Fredonia Valley Railroad later acquired the section from Princeton to Fredonia. The rest of the line was then abandoned in 2010 and removed from Providence to Wheatcroft and the surrounding mines.

Southern Railroad tied down on the Duke Energy track outside of Edwardsport, Indiana

November 24, 2017 – Fellow Railfan Ryan Scott and I were out searching for a High and Wide movement of a transformer when we ran across this string of Indiana Southern Railroad tied down on the Duke Energy track outside of Edwardsport, Indiana. Wasn’t exactly what we were looking for but they made for a nice picture!!! We did find the high and wide at Elnora, IN.

Norfolk Southern 375 Westbound drops helpers at Georgetown, IN

November 24, 2017 – Westbound Norfolk Southern 375 stops briefly on the main at Georgetown, IN so the units that helped push it up the grade from Louisville, Ky to be dropped off from the rear of its train, giving me just long enough to get off one exposure before it started moving again!

Indiana Southern High and Wide Movement, Elnora, IN

November 25, 2017 – Indiana Southern Railroad 3384 and 3386 pull off the Indiana Southern onto the Indiana Railroad at Elnora, Indiana as they move a high and wide transformer load. The transformer was moving to Worthington, Indiana where it will be off loading for the co-op between Worthington and Switz City, In.ndiana Soutern High and Wide Movement, Elnora, IN

Louisville & Indiana Railroad Shops at Dusk, Jeffersonville, IN

November 23, 2017 – I spent the day railfanning Indiana with fellow photographer Ryan Scott today. Part of the trip was from Seymour to to Jeffersonville, Indiana on the Louisville and Indiana Railroad. We didn’t catch anything moving on this day after Thanksgiving running, but arrived at the engine facility just after sunset and found this great glow on the power sitting there! Rather made up for the lack of movement in my opinion!
We actually had a good day also catching short line action on the Indiana Southern with a high and wide movement which you’ll see in the next few days. In addition we caught the Norfolk Southern’s “Bar” unit! I’ll leave the details on these and other units to a later post!