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Photography making travel by train fun

Subhash Sapru

It's been said that photography relieves stress, but it may make long distance journeys interesting and fun, especially when traveling by train.

The very thought of a long distance journey can make one feel that it would be full of boredom and even tiring; thus, travelers try to get rid of their boredom by either reading books or watching the scenery pass by or sometimes simply by relaxing and taking a nap.

When I was to travel from New Delhi to Guwhati, in the East of India a few months ago, I had the same feeling because the destination was about 2000 kilometers away. I decided to travel by train and avail myself of the opportunity to take pictures of interesting situations within the moving train as well as at the platforms where the train would halt at times.

I was sure that the train might run at its full speed to cover hundreds of miles, but the time would run slowly. Taking photographs was the remedy to eliminate boredom and keep from feeling tired due to being in my seat-cumberth for such a long time as the trip was about 30 hours to reach my destination in this vast country.

Having boarded the train in the afternoon, my first job was to get myself acquainted with the few fellow passengers in the same compartment, as a little familiarity could help me capture their moods (and they would be less likely object to my photography).

I was moved by a couple occupying seats along the aisle in my compartment. Most of the time, the man remained engrossed in reading a newspaper, and the lady kept looking out through the window, which had a fixed glass. Baggage was below the seat where they were sitting, and some bedding lay on the overhead berth making the whole setting interesting. The lightly tinted glass of their window was half covered with curtains, allowing soft light to pass through. Also, the light was being punctuated by two water bottles dangling over the window. As I was occupying the seat in front of them, it was easy for me to compose a scene and capture the situation in my camera.

There was an occasion when that man was engrossed in reading the newspaper, but the lady had moved away. This made a bit different, but equally interesting, composition. There was another passenger who had fallen asleep while going through the newspapers.

All the compartments of the train were connected to each other with a passageway at their joining points to facilitate the railway and pantry staff, as well as passengers, to move from first to the last compartment in this running train. I made my way to the kitchen in time to see the staff busy packing meals in containers to be served to passengers. I was able to document this aspect of the trip.

As the train halted for quite some time at one railway station on the way, I stepped down and started walking along on the platform. At one point, I was amazed to see the reflection of the hustle and bustle at the platform in one of the tinted window glasses of a compartment of the train. Besides the other people, the reflection also showed a youth in a red shirt sitting near a pillar on the railway platform, reading a newspaper. I tried to compose an image of the reflection in such a manner that it also showed perspective of the long train and the platform.

While taking photographs at the railway platform, I was careful to keep an eye on the signal light of the train, which would first turn green and then the train engine would sound a whistle to indicate its departure. I did not want to be so much engrossed in taking pictures that it would become difficult to catch the running train. The other picture which I took at another platform was of some youth bathing at the adjoining railway track, using the water tap meant for washing trains and filling overhead tanks of compartments.

As the train was slowly moving away from another railway station, I was standing at the door of my compartment with my camera around my neck. I aimed my 70-300-mm zoom lens at a laborer through the small opening of a wagon of a goods train where he was unloading cement bags and captured the man framed in that wagon opening.

I really enjoyed this journey by train--not a minute of boredom--simply because I was enjoying photography on my way. Had I traveled by air, I could not have had the opportunity to document my trip in pictures.

Subhash Sapru Chandigarh, India

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