Today my Dad and I went to the Orange Empire Railway Museum to check it out. OERM is a free to enter museum and is ran by volunteers, however it does cost $12 for an all day train ride pass or you can sign up for any of their membership options. We spent approximately a hour to a hour and half walking around the grounds and looking at the various trains, trolleys, and cars. We didn’t get to see everything, but we did get to about half of the grounds. We would have liked to continue, but it was extremely hot in the train yard and neither one of us had something to drink. I was hauling my gear with me, so I decided it was time to go.
The museum grounds are opened everyday from 9-5pm, but to get the full experience you must visit on the weekends. This is when the trains are operating and the hangers are open. To my surprise for being a free museum, it was not crowded at all. Most of the people there were families with small children and they were just riding the train and yellow-car back and forth and playing in the kids area. I am a very observant person, so while walking around I was trying to get a feel for some of the volunteers and how the react between each other, and there are some questionable ones.
Heading back to our vehicle at the train station two of the volunteers started to get into it. One was mouthing off and the other was yelling back I told you to take break, and it started to get heated. If there wasn’t children around, I am sure some words would have started to pop off since he was already trying so deeply hard not to. He eventually hopped into the Santa Fe train and went on the tour. I know that these people are volunteering their time, but at the same time children and families are around, so it should have waited until a more appropriate time or a place in private.
Would I visit the museum again?
Absolutely and despite the volunteers mishap, the museum is a great place for kids to view a bit of history, ride trains, and is a nice place to have a family picnic. The museum does have special events throughout the year and one of their most popular events is when Thomas the Train is running. Their next event is an Antique Truck show and that is happening on May 1st. Since this is an event, an admission price of $7 is required, or included with a purchase of an all day train and trolley pass for $12.
For more information about Orange Empire Railway Museum (OERM) please visit their site at: http://oerm.org
Pictures from our short trip:
Have you every had one of those days that you think nature is after you? Well, yesterday was one of those days for me. My goal for yesterday was to get out and capture some Fine Art work. I waited until there was a break in the rain, grabbed my gear and headed out. Not a moment soon after reaching the curb it started to rain and progressed rather quickly. I retreated back into the house and it stopped raining, my luck right! Since it was lunch time and I was hungry I took a few minutes to make some lunch, and sat down to one of my favorite movies. During this time it had not rained and the cement was beginning to dry. I figured the rained had stopped at this point and I headed back out, and you would not believe what happened next. It started raining once again. Frustrated at this point I decided to call it a day, so I thought. Since I wasn’t able to do what I wanted, I figured it was time for my Parakeet to get his pictures taken. Normally Trinity doesn’t like to get his picture taken and runs away, but this time he was all for it. Matter of fact, he was showing off to the camera and to himself. I was able to get a couple of shots from him, but still disappointed in the outcome. During this time my dog was watching, so I also took an image of her as well.
My Spoiled Brats: (Trinity Left, Cinnamon Right) 
Early that morning I received a text message from my cousin asking if I would do a mini-session of her child in his raingear. I gave her some information regarding a time that would be best considering the amount of luck that I was having. When she got off of work she stopped by and we started discussing it. I figured since Aiden was already over, had all his raingear with him and the skies were looking amazing I decided lets go ahead and give it a shot. I mistakenly said “I haven’t had any luck today, every time I went outside with my gear it started to rain,” that wasn’t very smart. I hauled all my gear outside, got it setup and it started raining. Aiden was playing behind the shed, having a blast and didn’t want to come out. After a few minutes I got him to come out and stand where I wanted him. I took an exposure shot, readjusted my flash and before I got to compose the shot he started to take off, so I took a blind-fire shot and he said I’m done. Like a true celebrity. I didn’t get a chance to review the image, as I wanted to get all my gear inside and out of the rain. After I got my gear all cleaned up, I finally got a chance to review the image and I nailed it. Exposure was perfect and sharp. The composition wasn’t what I wanted, but who’s going to argue. I got the shot, which counts. 
Friday, December 17th I got the privilege to photograph my friend Skylar Company Christmas party. This was my first big event since I started studying photography and it was an honor. There was much to learn from this event, especially being able to adapt to unforeseen circumstances such as a hotshoe flash not working like it should. That was a huge frustration, but at the end of the day all is well. I got to meet with Skylar’s coworkers and immediately connected with a few. I had a blast being able to capture Skylar’s Company Christmas Party, meeting his family and listening to his stories from back in the day. I had a fun time, thanks Sky.
