Well if you keep up to date with most of our sessions and posts, you just may have seen me (Jason) hint to the “Railroad Nazi” in the Ibachs post. If you’ve been pondering what in the world I must have been referring to, let me enlighten you with the story tale legend of….the Railroad Nazi.

Barry and Davina Anglemyer hooked up with us in Tempe near the Tempe Arts Center on a gorgeous and golden December eve. Tagging along behind them were their two ridiculously adorable children, Payton and Talon. Davina is an artist herself, who frequently creates with different metals. When’s the last time you saw a young, photogenic, and fashionable metalsmith?!?!

So dope. And her family fit right in with the photogenic-ness.

Jess and I fired up some MGMT and Jay-Z and took advantage of some buttery goodness of light seeping through some old railroad bridge timbers. They worked it out like Gucci models and then I had the opportunity to capture those two little darlings.

Success. Easy. All I had to do was push the shutter button and the pictures were superb when it came to shooting Payton and Talon. Look at those faces!!!

We moved along the railroad tracks for a few different looks and then I got the bright idea to pop some shots off on top of the tracks where there was this fantastic antique covered bridge. I’m actually really glad we did….until the Railroad Nazi showed up.

I was taking pictures of the kiddos when behind me I heard Jess yelling at me that “we had to leave”. I looked down off the tracks and saw a lady park ranger riding up on a four-wheeler like the cavalry had arrived. We were getting kicked out. Not the first time. So we meandered slowly down off the tracks thinking, “Ok, she’s just going to tell us we can’t be here”.

Nope. Not that easy.

She chewed into us.

“What are you guys doing up there!?”

“Sorry ma’am. We were just taking pictures of this family.” We didn’t see any No Trespassing signs so we didn’t think anything of it.”

“Well, it’s a felony criminal trespass to be on any railroad tracks around here, so go ahead and get up against the four-wheeler….you’re going to jail, you thugs.”

Ok. Ok. She didn’t really say that. But she was definitely threatening us with the possibility of taking us in for being on the tracks. Along with ridiculing us for escorting a family with small kids onto the death trap that is the train. I told her that we would be able to see the train coming but she wasn’t having that, explaining (in gruesome detail) that they peel drunken transients off the rail quite often. She was hardcore to say the least.

We finally diffused the situation and she only held us for half an hour with a “verbal” warning.

Jess and I were mortified! Embarrassed that we almost got the Anglemyer family arrested by a power hungry park ranger. But they couldn’t have been more light-hearted about it. Davina being an artist, knew what it meant to get great shots, no matter the risk. (Whew)

Well we think we may have just gotten pretty close to a couple great shots with Payton and Talon under the bridge. Check out the fabulous Anglemyer family, along with the infamous few minutes under the railroad bridge, right before the Railroad Nazi almost put the cuffs on us…

Tweet This Post