Dinning at a restaurant that has some festive decorations.

It was almost too warm for crystals - the patterns are completely different to what you get at -5 or less.

Another great night spent out camping with friends always means more night sky photography. This was the last frame of the night. Pleasant temperatures and low humidity made for a great night. 15 minutes of captured movement here. One of the few cloud-free moments of the day.

Thanks for looking!

Image is captured with Nikon Z6ii and Voigtländer Color-Ultron 50/1.8 (qbm)

Cleared for Flight

The stars of a cold winters night are reflected off the surface of Bear Lake in Northwest Florida. Calm conditions and clear skies allowed for beautiful night sky conditions, and this shot was able to capitalize on it well.

Thanks for looking!

Common Snapping Turtle basking in the warm sun of early Spring.

Vue du balcon

The KCS Macon Local is arriving in Meridian, Mississippi, on the former Gulf Mobile and Ohio Mainline. The local is an all timber products affair today, and sports just 8 cars. Three belle GP variants lead the train south to Meridian all afternoon, and made for a wonderful chase through the hilly woodlands of east Mississippi. Fortunately for us the Southern held Amtrak 19 at the diamonds for the local to scoot across, and into the yard. It was a well timed event as soon after stack trains would begin showing up, and the light would disappear.

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Cumberland Valley Classic

CSX loaded coal train T090 is seen passing through the pastoral scene at Olinger, Virginia, on a beautiful fall morning. The 45 car loaded coal train was moving right along until Big Stone Gap, a few miles up the road, where the lead engine ran out of lube oil. The scene here at Olinger is beautiful, and somewhat tough to photograph due to the mostly nocturnal nature of the T090 through here. This is a classic location on the old Louisville and Nashville Railroad Cumberland Valley Subdivision. Sadly, seeing more than one train in a trip is a rarity through here. I got lucky with two daylight runs of the T090, but only one shot here. I'll take it.

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

CSX haulage rights train T090 is seen exiting the southern portal of Natural Tunnel. The train is keeping to the 15mph speed restriction through the tight confines of Natural Tunnel. 45 loads of Eastman coal is at the drawbars. This is a bucket list location, and I'm priveledged to have shot it quite a few times this trip.

A shot I didn't think would be possible a few months ago became reality Wednesday morning as the CPKC Christmas train rolled off the east end of the Huey P Long Bridge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The spotless Kansas City Southern FP9's lead the Christmas train south out of Shreveport at 0500 Wednesday morning for an all day sprint to Laplace, Louisiana, for the public Christmas event CPKC was putting on. The F's and the Christmas train are midway through a multi-week tour of the KCS System for what will likely be the last Christmas train in the current configuration. All the elements had to come together perfectly to chase this train in the conditions we had Wednesday. Sun was not in the forecast, but somehow our group managed sunny conditions at every shot... More coming soon..

Thanks for looking!

66541 works 4L97 past Milton Malsor

A telephoto lens allows us to peer through the fog of a moody Vermont morning, and view the farms clinging to the ridgelines of Bartlett's Ridge. The last gasps of color have been getting blown away by massive windstorms for the past few days, and winter will soon set in.

Thanks for looking!

Sunrise over Einsiedel and the Swabian hills

www.redbubble.com/people/mbangert/works/129630321-autumn-...

It's a picture perfect afternoon in Green Mountain, North Carolina. We are standing on the edge of Whitson's Branch Road as CSX time freight Q694 works its way up the beautiful, former Clinchfield Railroad main. Whitson's Branch is an iconic shot for northbound trains along the Clinchfield. Fall Colors were at their beginning, much later than normal, but conditions were sublime. If you've ever been you know that the Clinchfield through the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina is a special place. The railroad follows the Toe and Nolichucky Rivers well away from any tourist population centers, and the shots that can be had are wonderful. Case in point here. Thanks especially to Noah Johnson for showing me around this day. It was one for the record books.

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

Fall in the Woodland

The vibrant oranges and yellows of Acadia's woodlands are shining brightly on a beautiful autumn's afternoon. This deciduous New England hardwood forest sits just below the boreal forest of Gorham mountain in the beautiful Wild Gardens of Acadia. The small stream running through the vibrant woodlands adds a beautiful touch to the scene. This was, by far, the most vibrant color I saw in the park, and it was wonderful to capture it here!

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

CSX train Q52103 slowly makes its way into Bay Saint Louis, MS, after encountering a stop signal on the drawbridge. The 2 mile long bridge stretches the length of Saint Louis Bay at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico. Yesterday afternoon was pristine along the Gulf in Bay Saint Louis with pleasant temps and calm seas... A great day to be out!

0799

Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. Since I don't have a macro lens, I used my 85mm f/1.8 lens and a bit of cropping. Quite happy with the result! Tell me what you think!

Nikon, Z6ii, 50mm, f/2, H, manual, focus, vintage

She’s a good kitty, and I hope to see more of her!

Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. Since I don't have a macro lens, I used my 85mm f/1.8 lens and a bit of cropping. Quite happy with the result! Tell me what you think!

Randomly walking in the garden during vacation. Since I don't have a macro lens, I used my 85mm f/1.8 lens and a bit of cropping. Quite happy with the result! Tell me what you think!

DSC_5586

This photo was made 2 weeks ago while getting sample photos for a lens review (jbradfordphoto.com). It's crazy how quickly the trees have started filling out since then!

Nikon Z6II, Vivitar 28mm f/2.5

It's the dawns early light in Speers Ferry, Virginia, and that early light has failed to penetrate the deep layer of fog in the valley surrounding Copper Creek. A well timed CSX M652 crackles over the radio at Kermit a few miles to the south, and a pit stop is made before shooting Natural Tunnel. Copper Creek is one of those places you have to see to believe. The trestle that the Clinchfield flies over the valley on is an impressive piece of engineering, and is well visible above the treetops. The normally tranquil Copper Creek is a muddy torrent from weeks worth of unrelenting rains that have destroyed towns and ended lives not too far from this spot. This area in the fog is beautiful, and a well timed train made it all better.

Thanks for looking and enjoy!

FG&A Z485-05 has three motors and 40 cars in the wind as they cruise along Escambia Bay in Pensacola, Florida. For about 10 miles the old L&N Chattahoochee Line rolls right along the shores of Escambia Bay as it leaves town. The bayshore is a beautiful stretch of railroad that allowed the Pensacola and Atlantic railroad to leave town in the 1860s without a massive grade out of town, or a swamp crossing north of it. Multiple hurricanes have done major damage to this location, but it always bounces back. No storms this morning though. It was 55 degrees and sunny when engineer Jason Holley guided his interchange train into town for CSX.

Thanks for looking and enjoy!