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Five Mind-Blowing Facts You Must Know About Taking Client Railroad Pictures

Train tracks are fantastic for seniors and family railroad pictures, aren’t they!?  The mystery of the track and where it leads, the wide-open space that goes forever, and all those leading lines.  Who can resist the allure of a set of railroad tracks when shooting portraits?

The facts and why you need to resist!

FACT #1 – Railroad Pictures Are illegal

Yep.  It’s true.  Railroad tracks are private property.  Private companies own railroad train tracks in the United States, and those companies hold the land under the tracks.  In some cases, a private party owns the land, but the railroad companies have exclusive rights to use it due to easement laws.  Either way – all railroad tracks are on private property.  Trespassing on that property is illegal.

The fines for trespassing are steep, no matter the state you reside.  The Legal Beagle states, “trespassing on railroad property is usually a misdemeanor, with penalties ranging from $100 to $1,000, and some jail time, depending on the state.  If your trespass results in the injury or death of someone else, you could face felony charges.”  You can read the entire article from the Legal Beagle HERE.

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FACT #2 – You Can’t Hear the Train Coming in Time

Even though it is illegal to trespass on railroad tracks, thousands of people still think it’s okay if they do not damage anything or leave a mess.  If you still want to use those tracks for your next photoshoot, consider this:  It is much harder than you think to hear a train coming.

Please take a minute to watch this video from NBC’s The Today Show and see how easy it is for a train to sneak up on you when you’re not expecting it. I’ll wait while you watch!

On top of how hard it is to hear a train, consider that it can take an average freight train over a mile to stop with emergency brakes.  If you don’t see or hear the train until it’s within yards of you, then it stands to reason that the train will not be able to stop in the time it takes for you and your family to clear off the tracks.

FACT #3 – People Die Every Year

I could tell you multiple stories of kids, adults, photographers, even movie-makers who have been killed in the last decade trying to take photos on the tracks.  But I will spare you the gory details.  If you don’t believe me, run a quick Google search to find an unending list of stories and articles.  It is pretty horrifying.

The simple fact is trespasser fatalities are getting worse, not better, in the past ten years.  Phil McCausland of the Federal Railroad Administration says, “The majority of train fatalities continue to occur because of trespassing, and education efforts have not stopped trespassing deaths from reaching a 10-year high.”  This chart from NBC News shows how railroad track fatalities have increased over the past ten years.

You can find the entire article from NBC News HERE.

But My Railway is Abandoned…

You may be wondering about Abandoned Railways.  Why you ask, can’t I find an abandoned rail and use that for my photo?  It makes sense, right?  But this excellent question leads me to our next fact.

Click HERE to learn about using prompts instead of posing at your next family photoshoot.

FACT #4 – Railroad Pictures Are Not Cool

If none of the facts above stops you from doing the unthinkable, then know this:  If you insist on taking photos on tracks, realize you cannot post them on social media anywhere without suffering an attack of massive proportions.  In our current culture, people have no boundaries around bullying behavior online.  A fast way to get bullied is to show a photo taken of the railroad tracks.  Go ahead, try it.  I dare you.

I was recently surfing my Facebook feed when I came across a post by a new photographer looking for constructive feedback on a few family shots.  She had taken them on some railroad tracks per her client’s request.  She posted SOOC images and their edited counterparts, asking for feedback on the edits.

Sad Stuff…

What happened next was amazingly sad, yet not the first time I’ve seen this behavior online.  Instantly the comments started rolling in.  Almost none of them answered the original poster’s questions about the edits.  Instead, comment after comment came in, slamming the poster for her choice of a location.  Some went so far as to call her “stupid” and “a horrible person” for shooting near the tracks.  Random commenters insulted her character and her intelligence for simply choosing this location.  Not only did they put their comments online for all to see, but they also began PMing her.  So many messages came in so quickly that she removed her original post to stop the madness.

I have seen this repeated over and over on social media.  It is ridiculous and sad when someone asks for help and gets bullied.  As photographers and fellow humans, I hope that we can be kinder to one another.  Of course, I always advocate for kindness.  It’s just how I roll, even when I have a slip-up.  That happens to all of us in life. 

FACT #5 – Railroad Pictures are Sooooo Outdated

If you’re still not convinced after everything we’ve talked about, consider the last time you saw an interesting family portrait taken on the tracks.  I’ll bet it isn’t a recent photo.  Honestly, this was a crazy popular fad in the 1980s before the dangers of railroad photos became mainstream information.

We know better now.  And as Oprah says, “when we know better, we do better.”  Challenge yourself to find a cooler, better example of leading lines for your next family photo.  Here are a few examples, but part of the fun of photography is finding unique and cool scenes and making them beautiful and unique!

It’s all about the leading lines. Click HERE to learn all about how to use leading lines in your photography!

Click here to read all about photographing beautiful tulips!

Wrapping it All Up

After watching the social media scenario unfold, I sat right down, researched, and wrote this post.  I want to educate as many people as possible about the dangers of railroad tracks.  Why?  Because it’s just not cool to photograph on them, and the more that know, the more can avoid a scene such as the one above.  And hey, we can also save lives.

It is dangerous and out-of-date to use railroad tracks in your photos.  If you are a hobbyist, you can do your part by avoiding them.  If you are a professional, it is your responsibility to refuse that location.  Some pros even put this in their contract to avoid unnecessary arguments with clients.  Remember, you are the professional, and you decide how you want to run your business.  If the client doesn’t understand and still wants to use the tracks, point them to this post or any of these online resources that will clearly explain the importance of your decision:

OPERATION LIFE SAVER  

RAIL SAFETY TIPS AND FACTS 

RAIL SAFETY FOR KIDS 

ABC News Report on the Dangers of Taking Photos on Train Tracks

Finally, you always have the choice to take a client or let them find a different photographer who is willing to risk everything to fulfill their wish.  As for me, no matter how tempting they are, I am staying off the tracks.  I won’t risk my business or the lives of my clients.

One Final Thought

I have one last thought.  If you absolutely MUST have photos on tracks and have no other option, consider that some museums have railroad tracks set up or rebuilt and on display.  They have no trains on them, and since they are on museum property, they pose no danger for you or your client of getting hit by a train.  So, if you MUST have a photo on a track, look into your local museum or a nearby locomotive museum for your railroad photos.

And finally, I have one last suggestion if you have a die-hard, must-have railroad photography client.  Shoot their portraits in an open field and find some royalty-free stock images of tracks that you can insert using Photoshop into the background of your image.  Just be sure the direction of light in your shot matches that on the image of tracks you use for this composite shot!

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