The sun was just coming off the northeastern horizon when I first made out the distant silhouette of a train through my binoculars, having just began the descent from Grass Lake. At that point, Mount Shasta was completely blocked by a bank of morning fog. But as the minutes went by and the sound of dynamic braking grew louder, the fog gradually dropped, and by the time the southbound Z train entered the scene in front of me, the mountain had emerged in all its glory.
Landscape photography is difficult due to the challenge of combining good light and good scenery. Good railroad photography enters another level of complexity since it requires the first two while there is a train in view.
