Railrhythms
Canadian Geographic and the Railway Association of Canada present the winners of the Great Canadian Railway photo contest
Toronto-based photographer Tobi Asmoucha judged the contest along with Railway Association of Canada vice-president Bruce Burrows and Canadian Geographic’s Kathy Frankiewicz. Category winners, runners-up and honourable mentions will receive VIA Rail travel certificates worth $1,000, $500 and $250, respectively. All winners will also receive a Lowepro Always-On Camera Wrap.
Rail places Winner
On her way to Jasper National Park, Carol Proft of Barrhead, Alta., noted the possibilities for a shot of the train heading into one of the tunnels. On her return trip, she knew what to do. “I positioned myself in the viewing car and got the lucky shot of the mountains and train to the west through the beginning edge of the tunnel.” The tricky part was getting the timing just right, she says. After all, you can’t ask the engineer to back up for a second shot!
Rail places Runner-up
Scott Van’t Land of Coalhurst, Alta., shot Lethbridge’s High Level Bridge as a panorama. “It’s a challenge to find a safe place to stop the car and capture not only the bridge,” he says, “but also the fall colours as they paint the poplars thriving on the floodplain.”
Rail places Honourable mention
Vancouver’s Lan Hu was lunching during a road trip with friends when a colourful train passing on the opposite side of B.C.’s Kamloops Lake caught her eye. “I quickly changed the lens on my camera and ran to the edge of the cliff,” she says. “There was no time to waste. I didn’t even have time to think. I took the photo by instinct.”
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
Rail people Winner
“It had been a long, fun filled day at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, and we’d just missed our train, so we had no choice but to wait for the next one,” says Jayson Childs of Thunder Bay, Ont. “Keeping the camera still for this long exposure was one challenge, but the bigger challenge was getting the girls to stay still.”
Rail people Runner-up
“I was taking my daughter for her first train ride in the summer of 1986,” says David McNorgan of Wellesley, Ont. “Intuitively,
I knew it was a moment to capture. Fortunately, my camera was ready to go!”
Rail people Honourable mention
“I have fond memories of my dad taking us to freight yards where he worked,” says Evan Ferrari, a program manager for renewable energy projects who commutes from Guelph, Ont., to his job in Toronto by VIA. “Too often, trains like these sit idle for much of the day. Too many people prefer to take our clogged highways.”
Rail economy Winner
“I had landed at the ferry terminal on Vancouver’s north shore and was crossing the switching yard on a footbridge,” says Douglas Sage of Kamloops, B.C. “The symmetry of the parallel tracks leading to the skyline and the even light gave me a shadowless subject field.” Having no tripod on hand, he had to press the camera against the brace of the footbridge to get a steady shot.
CANADIAN GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL
Rail economy Runner-up
As he watched this locomotive leave the Hamilton, Ont., rail yard to shuttle cars to the harbour front, John Prior saw a golden opportunity. “Late on summer evenings, the setting sun glows on the rails,” says Prior, who lives in Burlington, Ont. “The biggest challenge was composing the picture quickly to catch both the setting sun on the rails and the train heading toward me.”
Rail economy Honourable mention
Ted Nodwell was on his daily commute aboard the West Coast Express to Vancouver when he caught a glimpse of an oncoming freight train on a parallel track. “I only had a split second to compose my image through my extreme wide angle lens,” he says, “before the two trains flashed past each other.”
A word about our sponsors
It took more than the talents of our many readers to make the Great Canadian Railway Photo Contest a success. We appreciate the generous support of our sponsors and we thank
them for their participation.
CANADIAN GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL
Brought to you by Markzware.