Nevada Northern Railway Winter Steam Shoot--Friday

 I had the opportunity to attend the Nevada Northern Railway's Winter Steam Photo Shoot Spectacular, a 2.5 day event held twice each February. I was at the second weekend, with about 30 other photographers, ready to take jawbreaking photographs of trains. I have to admit, I like trains, but I'm not a train fanatic. And I do love photography, but I had a feeling I was going to be with a bunch of semi-pro and pro photographers. So I was definitely going to be out of my comfort zone. But that's okay, that's how we grow, so I decided to just go for it and enjoy the weekend. My husband and in-laws were on kid duty, I had a room reserved at a hotel in Ely, and I had packed lots of warm clothes (it is Ely, Nevada, after all, a place not really known for being warm).

We started out with a safety briefing from Mark Bassett, the director of NNRY. Then we headed out into the yard for some photo opportunities. It was a grey and rainy afternoon, so I was glad there were some bright colors out there.


We started with a freight train with two diesel engines, #5 and #105 (I think--this is where my lack of train knowledge trips me up!)


We bundled up and went out into the yard. These train photographers had come from all over, including Chicago, Connecticut, Washington state, several from California, Utah, and more.


The freight train made some passes.

I tried to find a way to get something a little different. It was my first time photographing with so many others, and I was introduced to the concept of a photo line, a line you stay behind so you don't get in anyone else's photo. The photo line changes as everyone gets that shot and then it's time to move on to the next one.

I really enjoyed the artistic challenge of trying to get a unique shot. I was also content to get some standard compositions, as I don't have many train photos. (I do now!)

The line of school buses across the street caught my eye, a splash of color on an otherwise dreary day.

One of the cool things about the NNRY is that when it closed down, they basically shut the doors on an intact operation. So all the parts are there, being restored over time. These buildings in the background are iconic to the railway.

 

Then it was time to head down the tracks. The lines and symmetry made me swoon--well, almost! I was pretty excited, I have to admit.

We were allowed to go into the caboose and watch the freight train. It was a little rainy at this point.

A few of the photographers getting ready.

Then they did a demo with the crane train, lifting an ore cart off the tracks and setting it back down. It was very cool.

 By then I was very cool--I mean cold, so I checked into the hotel and warmed up a bit.

 Then at 5 pm I went back for the much touted night shoot with professional studio lighting. It felt like a bit of a jostling match to get a spot in the lineup of tripods!

The studio lighting was really nice (ignore the green flare, I just saw it and realized I still need to fix that!). Engine 40 was our main subject.


I also had fun trying some of my night sky techniques between the flashes so I could get some special effects, like the light beaming out in front.

  

After a few shots of the engine and people trying various angles, the models came in. These are NRRY employees who did a good job of looking the part.

I really liked the steamy effect.


And then there were more photos...

It was a fun evening of trying out various camera settings and angles. The crowd was thinning out when I left about 7:30 pm and downloaded photos and charged batteries to get ready for the next day.

Wet Cave with Unusual Water Features

Remember how I said the cave was wetter than usual (for the Lehman Caves Lint and Restoration camp in mid-February, 2017)? It made for some fun photo opportunities! Check out these bubbles.

We're not exactly sure why the water is dripping off the end of a bubble instead of off the end of the formation itself. Perhaps a thin layer of calcite is providing a little extra structure. Or maybe the degassing of the CO2 makes the bubbles form and the conglomeration of bubbles makes one main bubble that's stronger. When we spotted this bubble the second day, it had changed from a single bubble to this:

Not only are there bubbles, there are also spouters (yes, that's the very technical term-ha!), when the water spouts out the side of a speleothem.

These spouters were crazy. And some would change the angle of spouting depending on water pressure (I think). We'd see it spraying out to the side and the next hour it would be almost straight down.


The pools in the cave were filling.


Slowly the rimstone dams will grow. It wasn't that long ago that some of this floor was covered with sand and dirt. It's been restored due to numerous lint and restoration camps.

And I'll leave you with just a few more photos of the hydrological oddities in Lehman Caves during mid-February, 2017:

I love all the mysteries that caves still contain!

February 2017 Lint and Restoration Camp

We attended a lint and restoration camp in January, and then a second one in February at Lehman Cave. After dusting off lint for awhile, it as time to start on the restoration--or removing old dirt and sand trail to find the natural cave bottom. It's a very satisfying task for all ages. And the kids were happy to be able to talk as they worked.

Below you can see some of the natural floor being uncovered. The dirt might have been brought in to help protect some of the delicate parts of the cave. Then they walked on it. We figure just uncovering it and then not walking on it at all might be a better solution.


There was also some restoration in a place called the Dog house. The natural cave floor, which was the bottom of a pool, was found.


As a reward, participants got to visit the huge Talus Room, which is longer than a football field. It's off the trail route and rarely entered.


Another reward was seeing a very wet cave. Recent snowmelt made the water come through the epikarst (layer above the cave) quickly, and as a result we were seeing unusual things like bubbles at the end of soda straws that were dripping water.

It's so fun seeing the kids enjoy lint and restoration camp. They're the next generation that will carry this forward.

Some treasures were found during the restoration, namely pennies in the Lake Room. About a dozen were found, including a couple wheat pennies. Probably people threw them into the pool. We haven't seen a pool in that room for years, it's been too dry.

The girls really liked washing rocks. It's a bit of a tedious process, but it works well to get old asphalt and dirt residue off the cave rocks. Then they're put back into the pools and look amazing.

Another fun part of lint and restoration camp is the potluck. There's always plenty of tasty food. This year we even saw individual creme brulees!

The girls carrying the rock-washing water out of the cave. They were full of smiles the entire time.

Here's a small pool in the Cypress Swamp before being cleaned.

 

And here it is after being cleaned:

It's exciting to see how much difference we can see in just a couple days. We're going to keep working in this area in future years to see how much we can improve it.