Standing in my own footsteps... The Railfan Experience

Standing in my own footsteps
(Click photos to see a larger image)

In March of 2007, I spent a morning shooting on the Copper Basin Railway east of Phoenix. My first shot of the day was the eastbound OT-1 near Ray Jct. After the trip, I looked back at some of my shots that I had taken five years earlier on this line -- on a day when my first shot was also the OT-1 near Ray Jct. (I'm not sure this is relevant, but my 2002 photo was on film; the 2007 photo was digital.)

In comparing the two photos, I was surprised to notice that not only had I photographed the trains at the EXACT same location; but that my framing, composition, focal length, and placement of the train in the shot all made it look like I had been standing IN MY VERY OWN FOOTSTEPS (from 2002) when I took the 2007 shot -- and I very well may have been! The only difference was, in 2002 I shot it as a vertical; the second time around, I framed it as a horizontal. (Even the lead unit was the same, but its paint had been touched up sometime prior to my 2007 shot).

Sometimes, apparently, there is really only one "best" spot to stand to take a photo.

Copper Basin Railway,
March 2002

Five years later... March 2007

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