Cajon Pass

Cajon Pass Chase Map

I have always had a huge interest in maps for as far back as I can remember. In all of my pursuits over the years, maps were either a necessary tool to accomplish the task at hand or an adjunct to augment the experience. As a child I had a massive aeronautical chart of Los Angeles hanging on my wall and I would study it for hours. Through that exercise I garnered an appreciation for distance and topography, as well as infrastructure and the historical aspects of the places listed before me. Soon maps became part of me and I would seek out and go to map stores like some kids would go to record stores or arcades…

UP 844, a Mountain, a Mob, and Me

As I described in in my previous post, “”UP” for a Chase? 844 Comes to California,” Union Pacific’s famous steam engine, the UP No. 844, is in California and garnering quite the attention in the process. On Saturday, November 19, 2011, the UP 844 lead the Centennial Tour train eastbound from West Colton, California to Yermo, California. The route the train was scheduled to take was over BNSF rails up and over the scenic and challenging Cajon Pass. It was the making of a perfect photo opportunity and I headed out early Saturday morning, almost dutifully, to get in position…

Photos From "Cajon Day": Part 4

Here are the final images that I took on November, 13, 2010 at BNSF and the San Bernardino History & Railroad Museum’s celebration of the 125th anniversary of train service through Cajon Pass…

Photos From "Cajon Day": Part 3

Here are a few more images that I have post-processed that I took on November, 13, 2010 at BNSF and the San Bernardino History & Railroad Museum’s celebration of the 125th anniversary of train service through Cajon Pass…

Photos From "Cajon Day": Part 2

Here are a few more images that I have post-processed that I took on November, 13, 2010 at BNSF and the San Bernardino History & Railroad Museum’s celebration of the 125th anniversary of train service through Cajon Pass. The photos are representative of the vehicles that were on display, complete with accompanying employees, specific to each vehicle type and service, to field questions from the public and give demonstrations…

Photos From "Cajon Day": Part 1

I have begun the effort of post-processing the mass of photos that I took on November, 13, 2010 at BNSF and the San Bernardino History & Railroad Museum’s celebration of the 125th anniversary of train service through Cajon Pass…

BNSF and Others Threw Quite the Railroad Party

Lately I have been consulting for a couple of rail and historical web sites to include standing up new web presences for each entity and creating accompanying artwork. This effort has occupied all of my free time, as the lack recent posts can attest to. However, I made sure to clear my calendar for Saturday, November 13, 2010. In my calendar I created an entry to block out my time and labeled it simply “Cajon Day…”

Cajon Pass in HDR - Crossing Over Cajon Style

While seeking the sunrise shots at I wrote about it the post entitled Sleepless Summit Sojourn Seeking Sunrise (I couldn’t resist!) in Cajon Pass I caught a couple of westbounds. Those opportunities offered a backlit train and shimmering rails - a long time favorite shot of mine…

Cajon Pass in HDR - Sleepless Summit Sojourn Seeking Sunrise

Back on Spetember 12, 2010, I had trouble sleeping. I laid in bed unable to get back to sleep. As I replayed a scene from Apocalyspe Now, the one where Captain Willard is laying on the bed and just staring at the ceiling fan, yeah that one. Round and round and round the blades go…

BNSF Celebrates the 125th Anniversary of Railroad Service Over Cajon Pass

Rail service through the Cajon Pass is turning 125 years old on November 9, 2010 and the BNSF Railway and the San Bernardino History & RR Museum are throwing a party to commerate this historic occasion on Saturday, November 13, 2010, and you’re invited! To get in the spirit of the event, I created the poster above as a salute to all of the men and women who persevered and conquered the pass by rail and to those who operate the trains and maintain the line today. I get a lot of enjoyment out of watching the trains struggle up and down the pass and try to visit it regularly…

Pseudo-HDR Images from Cajon Pass

During my deep-dive into the realm of High Dynamic Range photography I have been forced to test with pseudo-HDR images which are the byproduct of a single RAW image file. (See my previous blog post, “Going to the Next Level: Learning HDR,” for a detailed explanation.) I am learning the nuances and challenges of the process, the various techniques and softwares packages available, and developing a maintainable workflow process. Above all else though, I am becoming inspired…