Santa stood on that back platform from 6:30a.m. to 3p.m. waving to people
watching the train go by in between stops and yelling, “Santa sees you!!” Amazing man.

Stacked, 15 tons, ready to go.

Elkhorn City, Kentucky

Wynonna Judd. Nice lady.

View from inside the train pulling into a stop.

Some favorites. Still editing through. It was exhausting at the end but it was such an amazing experience! It was great to be a part of something where people smiled all day long. I wanted to start giving out free hugs and skip hand in hand with strangers, it was that good. A nice break from hard news, when there are times people misjudge your reasons to photograph a story.  It was nice to be on the same page for this one..

Time for some r+r. After all the editing.. More soon!

Where it all happens.

Riding the bus up to Kentucky on a massive coach. In the past they rode up in the train.

You wake up and it’s suddenly Thanksgiving next week. It always seems to hit when you least expect it even though it’s marked on the calendar every year at the same time. I always enjoy it, b/c there is always  a sense of self-reflection time in the midst of a very busy two months. And it really couldn’t have been better this year to start it off with the Santa Train!!  So far it’s been a pretty busy last couple months. Seems like I am staring at the first picture in real life quite a lot! Thank God for Starbucks…

I just returned from the journey, a long-time tradition for the Appalachian area right before Thanksgiving.  The trip was one I’ll always remember. So honored and anxious to do it. I’ve shot it from the tracks for my paper for the past 4 years. 1,200 pictures later, it’s time to begin the editing process. I was hired to shoot for CSX, the freight train company that provides the ride/route from Kentucky to Tennessee. It’s a 115-mile journey with 14 stops that takes about 7.5 hrs, complete with Santa Claus waving from the back of the train plus a celebrity, this year, Wynonna Judd. And I had the chance to ride the train this year!

1, thank you Hampton Inn of Pikeville, KY for not giving me bed bugs and being completely super nice and clean. 2, waking up at 4a.m. isn’t so bad. I think I’m getting the hang of it.