Photography regrets

[43021HST]

This thread is dedicated to those times when you have seen a certain type of train or working and refused to press the shutter for whatever reason and now sorely regret it or lost a large amount of photos.

I have been photographing trains since I received a compact digital camera on my 13th birthday, 5 years ago; compared to some photographers I have not missed much on the railways in these past 5 years, so I would have far less regrets than others.

My early days of railway photography were spent at Reading West and Reading station, I had only just missed the valanta HSTs, oh how I wish I had received my camera a few months earlier and payed more attention to the goings on of the modern railways.

But on one afternoon at Reading Station I saw a 'Barbie liveried' Class 180 pass through Reading, believing this to be a replacement set for the HSTs I didn't take a picture, something I regret now, as this turned out to be the last I saw a 180 at Reading until recently.

But most of all I regret the repeated mistake of not backing up my photos, over the period of 5 years I have lost 1000s of photos due to not backing up my photos. My computer broke down again in July and I have now lost the majority of my collection, save from a mere 300 I have uploaded onto the internet. Gone are my shots of the Lymington Cig, countless diesel galas, A stock and 67 Stock shots, WMSR shots and many, many more.

 

[StripeyNick]

My biggest regrets have been ignoring what were, at the time, everyday happenings that are now gone. I would always concentrate on getting the new or unusual workings/liveries and so completely miss things that I'd taken for granted disappearing................for example, the demise of 60s, loco hauled trains on the WCML, the Southport 'Club'trains and even just the fairly mundane stuff.

I also regret having a poor photography technique when I started. I used to take pics as a record of a loco I'd seen so quite often, I'd just have a shot of the loco and not the train so my pics could have been taken anywhere. It's only over the last 10years or so that I've come to 'place' the train.

I also regret being a lazy sod as I've missed out on a few things that way..........the biggest working for me was a 56 on one of the morning Rhymney workings. I was getting up for work anyway but couldn't be bothered to get up just that little bit earlier to get the Grid.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Anything before the last four years. A bunch of poorly framed old cheap compact camera shots, few to none of the 308s on the Airedale Line. Not to mention missing the last days of the loco hauled WCML trains while at Uni in Lancaster just moments from the line.

 

[455driver]

Most of my favourite shots are the "end the film, take a picture of that" ones, just everyday hum drum things now sadly gone for ever!

Regrets,
Early years of the HSTs, never took a picture of a tram until they were being reliveried.
Any "ordinary" shot that wasnt worth the film, 100s of them.

If only digital was available in the late 70s early 80s.

 

[50041]

Not buying my first proper camera until 1984, thereby missing a whole load of stuff in the late 70s and early 80s - the years when I was most interested.

 

[ACE1888]

Personally speaking, I don't think you can ever take enough photos 'on the four foot', you're recording history 'as it happens', we all regret not having a camera with us, if it was last week or 30 years etc ago. I got back into railway photography around 7 years ago, now I do it (and share it) as much as time allows...It's a hobby to last a lifetime indeed

 

[theblackwatch]

If only digital was available in the late 70s early 80s.

I think this is one of the differences between photography 'then' and 'now'. Back in the 1970s/80s, most if not all people were conscious of the cost when taking a photograph. You had to buy a roll of film and then pay for your pictures to be developed (or get process paid slide film), so every picture that you took would cost money. As a result, people were more choosy with what they took pictures of and I suspect most of us took very few shots of everyday mundane stuff. Nowadays, a lot of people will fire their lens at virtually anything that moves and apart from the initial outlay of the camera, it won't cost any more whether you go out that day and take 3 shots or 300.

 

[sprinterguy]

I’m thankful that I have always felt moved to take photos of the everyday occurrences on the railways, as I have always been more interested in the whole scope of the railway operations taking place than in just chasing certain “special” workings. However, I can still agree with many others on this thread that my greatest regret in railway photography is not having taken enough photos in the early days of my enthusiasm for railways, even though I did do fairly well on that front and took many photos (of variable, but improving, quality) from the age of eight onwards. You can never take enough photos! Taking photographs certainly was a very different scenario in the days of 35mm film because of all the additional costs that were involved in purchasing and developing each film, which is something that I try to keep in mind when I think of the things that I did fail to photograph back then.

 

[172212]

The only thing I regret is not doing it regularly enough because of other commitments

 

[60163]

I regret not taking unit numbers from the very start - my dad was always ahead of the game and i'd deride him for doing so.

I regret not having a cheap disposable camera at childhood days at Crewe and Old Oak open days.

Apart from that, I always regret not going on/photting the Shakespeare Express, the 67 trains from Moor Street etc. more than I have done as they're relatively easy for me to get to and operate regularly.

 

[Charlie2555]

Being young (17) I haven't missed too much. However, I do regret not photographing the old HSTs where I lived in Cornwall- there would've been many of the older liveries like the Great Western Trains and the "fag packet" livery around, none of which are used any more. I do however have good memories of meeting relatives at Bodmin Parkway Station and hearing that Valenta scream- I used to cover my ears it was so loud!
But yeah, I wish I had a camera then.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

Using a disposable for my pictures when I went to the Drags and Rescues gala at the MNR.

When I arrived back home, I put the camera down and it lay there in that pile for about 6-months and I passed by it many times and didn't bother to get them developed. Mum cleared up and never seen again.

There were some decent shots of the HST at Wymondham Abbey and other good shots of the MNR. As well as the HST at Norwich which I wont see for a while

 

[TGVDUDE]

I wish I had a camera to record the last coal trains from Pontycymmer, of which I have memories of from walks with my grandad, but I was fairly young so this isn't that bad, but as I grew older and workings such as from the Parc Slip Open Cast, Rhymney Valley, Fishguards & the demise of 37s/56s etc down here went unrecorded, I also only saw these workings occasionally, so I do regret not taking a greater interest until later, but do cherish the memories of proper locos roaring across South Wales.

 

[anthony263]

I wish I had a camera to record the last coal trains from Pontycymmer, of which I have memories of from walks with my grandad, but I was fairly young so this isn't that bad, but as I grew older and workings such as from the Parc Slip Open Cast, Rhymney Valley, Fishguards & the demise of 37s/56s etc down here went unrecorded, I also only saw these workings occasionally, so I do regret not taking a greater interest until later, but do cherish the memories of proper locos roaring across South Wales.

I have to say I agree with you since I dont have many photos of freights on the Tondu - Margam branch.

That said I also regret not getting any photos of the virgin hst's when they were still running the Newcastle - Swansea service or the intercity liveried hst's

 

[Trainfan344]

Using a disposable for my pictures when I went to the Drags and Rescues gala at the MNR.

When I arrived back home, I put the camera down and it lay there in that pile for about 6-months and I passed by it many times and didn't bother to get them developed. Mum cleared up and never seen again.

There were some decent shots of the HST at Wymondham Abbey and other good shots of the MNR. As well as the HST at Norwich which I wont see for a while

Ouch...

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I know, I was intending to enter a pic for the modern images page in RAIL. Thats has taught me to get things done and not be lazy. If I would have got up off my arse and got the pictures developed, I would have them now. I think their quite comfortable in a great smoldering heap of rubbish in the landfill by now