No, no, no. Not THAT way.

Be sure, every now and then, to photographically document not only projects in progress, but also the volunteers doing the work--the track gang, the ticket agent, the engineer, the mechanics, even the archivists. Then share--with permission--the photos to your newsletter and social media.

Two of our groups have as a member a photographer whose work regularly shows up in major rail publications. Every time he shows up, he photographs away. Every major event, picnic, banquet, or work project. He sends the best of them to the editors of the newsletters and webmasters. He's sure, now that digital eliminates film and processing expense, to get EVERYONE at least once, unless they pretend to be Amish or whatnot.

Not only is this recognition for their input, but at times I've seen such groups being asked to provide said photos to the families of deceased members or even for obituaries!), as 1) the photos may be of work the deceased may be remembered for or wish to be remembered for (the smartly dressed conductor or the grimy overalls), and 2) at times they may have been among the ONLY good photos taken of the person in a decade or more! (So be sure to catch your volunteers in flattering poses as well, not in mid-chew or howling in pain from an errant spike maul!)

Hi all

This is not real advisable if you are in a facility that does not like cameras or photos taken. Make sure if you are a quest of someone you follow their policies.

Robby Peartree

Two guys go hunting

One shoots the other by accident (aka "pulling a Cheney")

Panicked Hunter's call to 911; "I shot my hunting partner and I think He's dead"

911: "Please try to calm down sir, are you sure He's dead ?"

Muffled background sound on phone call of multiple shot gun blasts

Hunter to 911; "Yes, I'm sure He's dead"

Har Har Har

When I was at TVRM, we had a situation where one of our long time volunteers suddenly passed away. The museum newsletter wanted to do a write up In Memorium and asked the staff if anyone had a photograph of him. I was the only person who had a photograph and ironically, had only taken it a week before he passed. That ended up being the photo that was printed in the newsletter.

As for "shooting", one of my coworkers would occasionally say "God, I wish someone would shoot me". My reply would be, "I can help you with that!" He's quit using that saying around me (I collect antique military rifles).

Hah! Too soon we grow old, too late we get smart.

I started volunteering at IRM in February of 1970, when I was seventeen. Being young and cocky in those years, any time I saw one of the members wasting time taking MY picture, I'd flip him the bird and bitch at him that there were more important things he could be doing.

Now, fifty years later, I wish I had more photos of the younger me engaged in restoration work or operations, but of course few photos of me were ever published in the newsletter, because it was hard to find photos where my middle finger wasn't extended.

What was I thinking???

Ironically, I had precisely this problem with a Class One crew member on my hometown local. He was prominent in my very last photo of Conrail, published in Railfan & Railroad as their "Final Frame" in their "Farewell to Conrail" issue, as he sat on two milk crates to repaint the sign at the entrance to our local yard as he left on the last day.

He now has that issue and photo framed on his wall, has just retired, and asked me if I had any more photos of him......... You might imagine the heck I gave him.......

Somewhere at home, I have a print of the crew that ran Southern 4501 on her last day of operation in 1997. Since the road had no foreseeable plans to shop the locomotive, we all knew that it would be out of service for years. A couple of us on the crew that day got the idea to remember that day by having a photo of the crew taken with the locomotive. We got one of the office employees (who was a professional photographer on the side) to meet the train at East Chattanooga after arriving on its last trip. 4501 was spotted on Track 2 and the four of us (engineer, two firemen and myself) gathered around the pilot and had the photo taken. I was the conductor, the late A. P. Brock was the engineer, H. G. Kitts and Michael A. Brown were the firemen.

Think it a good idea and most people probably wouldn't mind. Great way to portray your museum and membership involvement. Personally I don't like my picture taken but won't make a stink about it now days. Like Dennis, back in the day was a different view.

But in this day and age it is kind of risky to some degree. When involved with the Polson #2 restoration I tried to take many photos to document the progress and the people involved. Early on it was a small crew. But as we neared completion and it was obvious we were going to be successful we had to stop posting pics of people doing work of any kind because of the "poison well" and accusations of safety violations by those not in favor of the completion of that project. Have seen it here too where a person posts a picture and all the "back ally lawyers and wanna be OSHA inspectors" chime in on why the work is all wrong and one might shoot his eye out. So one must carefully choose what pictures to post. A crew shot posing is fine, but of actual work being done be careful of those who don't support your progress or have an axe to grind. Many commentators just want to be impotent and don't realize the negative spin they put on things. I have been guilty of this in the past as many of us are. Getting permission for taking photos of on going work is a good idea. One might have good intentions but instead paves the road to hell. Regards, John.

I agree, if you are going to publish photos of volunteers/employees performing actual work make sure everyone is wearing proper PPE etc.

We try to take as many photos as possible while disassembling something, this makes it way easier to figure out how to put it back together!

Those were the days!

For the record in this thread there are Federal Rules requarding certain employees and when they can use electronic equipment. Before jumping on the let us take a picture program let us make sure you are following policies and the CFR.

Robby Peartree

I don't claim to be an expert on the subject, but my understanding is that the electronic devices rule only applies to on-duty crew members. Unless you have a job to be doing, i.e. engineer, conductor, etc., cameras and even cell phones are theoretically fair game. If it's a designated photographer with no other responsibilities, this shouldn't be a major concern.

Please get permission first, there are those of us that need or want to maintain a low public profile.

We are kind of touching on a couple of different situations here:
1) Work project photos should not be taken by people preforming certain on-duty jobs like engineer or conductor.
2) And you don't want to show an on-duty engineer or conductor talking on his cell phone. Or even what might look like an on-duty engineer or conductor using a cell phone.

I mean lots of museums and tourist railroads have virtual webcams up and running, hard to stay out of the photos these days.

If you are working, in uniform, in a public area you should expect to be photographed. It would be silly to expect someone to ask permission to take a photograph just because an engineer or conductor was visible in or around the locomotive.

I would understand if you were a volunteer working behind the scenes you would want the opportunity to decline a photo by a member taking photos for the newsletter, especially if it was just you in the photo and not a group shot.