Straight on

I BLEW THE ASSIGNMENT! But I kind of like the picture, anyway. The assignment was to shoot a Sancho the drone picture from about 100 feet in front of the train, looking over the top all the way to the last car. The only place I could think of with a long enough straight away was the Palmer Hay Flats, from the trestle over the Knik River to the curve pictured here - about two miles. I drove to a spot near the curve and launched Sancho for a preliminary look. The light was just wrong. It would have come in at the train from a hard right angle and the setting sun would have been so low that the trees to the west of the tracks would have put the train completely in the shadows.

I packed Sancho back up and bugged out to this place. I wanted to drive the trail at left as far as I could, but the only way onto it was through a narrow gap through concrete over a mound of earth of no consequence to a four-wheeler, but which I felt certain my Ford Escape would high center on. I parked and walked the trail as Sancho flew just on the other side of the wall of trees, high enough for me to keep him in sight. The trail ended at a concrete retaining wall rising over a pond just beyond the bottom edge of this picture. I flew Sancho out over the pond, turned his eye to look down the track and saw the tiny headlights of the train, coming fast. I positioned Sancho as best I could and pushed the shutter button  at the last instant. Many cars followed those you see here. I have another idea on how I might yet get them all in one picture but due to diminishing daylight have only a few days at best for the right conditions to come together. 8/17/20

Photograph courtesy of Bill Hess