I saw the discussion on step ladders a while ago, and wanted to add that I
strongly encourage them. Here in the East, a little elevation can go a long
way, especially when shooting over fences or crowds.
I recomment the longest stepladder your railfanning vehicle can practically
carry, as the longer the ladder, the greater the fexibility. My pickup truck
perfectly handles a six-foot ladder. When approaching a scene, my ladder
offers five or six steps of composition to put the horizon, or tree limbs, or
porch overhangs, or setting moons, or anything, exactly where they are
needed. It can also put the track over those short fences between you and
the railroad. That ladder also offers enough height to reach that first ring
of tree limbs for climbing or pruning. I also keep a scrap of 3/4" plywood,
roughly 3' x4' in the truck bed, for those instances when the ladder is best
used on top of the bed cap -- this distributes the weight of the ladder
across the entire roof of the cap. Keep in mind that a small truck can get
quite wobbly with a human up that high, however, once in a while it's worth
the trouble. Do not try this on un-level ground, as any angle is exagerated
the higher obove the center of gravity you climb. And that ladder has come
in most handy when trying to climb those often-straight-up cut-out bits of
hillside along so many rights of way and roadsides. I have made several
photographic forays into the wilds of the West, and have often wished I had
the stepladder.
Sometimes, I find, a little elevation is nice. A six foot ladder can get
your camera to look directly level into the cab windows of a locomotive for
the absolute perfect wedge, if that's what you want. Vintage shooter Don
Furler, with his 5x7 view camera, would strive for that height, as he liked
the angles of the rail and the locomotive roof to be exactly the same.
Similarly, that little elevation can be an annoyance, as climbing high may
move the horizon behind a locomotive just over its roof, thus complicating
the roof line and making a less stark or understandable image. Remember,
that to make any image requires something dark against something light, and
vice versa. A rugged tree line or mountaintop is usually best either under,
or well over, the roof of a locomotive or passing train. An old axiom says
that good black and white shooters make the best color shooters, as they rely
on lights-and-darks to make an image, rather than simply differences in color
that may have similar tonal values.
Being a big guy, 6-foot at 1/8th-of-a-ton, I have no trouble carrying a
stepladder anywhere, as my wooden one is relatively light, and my forearm
fits perfectly between the rungs. I get funny looks for carrying the thing
along a country road, or in big crowds, and I get chided my many railfans.
But I get the shots. And I often get asked by others if they can shoot from
it -- more than once a shot from my ladder wound up in Trains Magazine. The
Steamtown Grand Opening and the rollout of Conrail's first SD80MAC are a
couple that come to mind. The ladder has also come in handy at parades and
other events, and just today I used it to take pictures of my father blowing
taps at the dedication of a Korean War Memorial.
I have found a wooden ladder to be best. First, it's lighter than all other
materials. Next, it floats, it does not conduct electricity, and when it
loosens up -- and they all eventually loosen up -- a couple of screws and
some braces can be added at will. I plan to add couple of extra swinging
legs to mine to make it usable on uneven ground. I also intent to make a set
of wooden tripod leg exentions to allow it to be raised to the height I can
get on the tripod -- bracing a tripod on a ladder works for stills, but not
for video.
....Mike Del Vecchio
--> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
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