It’s field trip time again! I’m very excited to finally have confirmation for what I hope is a fun and educational trip: NIGHT-TIME LIGHT PAINTING of trolleys at Shore Line Trolley Museum. This means capturing long exposure photos in the dark. Never done this before? No problem, we’ll teach you how! Read below for more details:

LOCATION: Shore Line Trolley Museum, 17 River Street, East Haven CT
The museum is on the left at the end of River Street, with a large parking lot behind it. Use an app such as Waze, Apple Maps or Google Maps for best directions for you and to estimate your travel time.

DATE: Saturday March 5. We have time booked at SLTM from 5 p.m. to approx 8 p.m. (rain date if needed: Saturday March 12).

COST: $20 per attendee, payable via Paypal button on our website! The button will be active this weekend. There are no refunds so if you cancel after registering, your $20 fee will become a donation to SLTM (but you may transfer your registration to another member if you find someone to buy your spot!)

WHEN & WHERE TO MEET: SLTM is about a 15 minute drive from North Haven. To prepare for our time at this shoot, we will meet an hour beforehand at 4:00 pm (location TBA) to get comfortable adjusting our camera settings while we can actually see the buttons on our cameras. This will prepare us to make those adjustments when shooting long exposures in the dark! Laura Parisi will lead us as a group through this training session, as well as the on-site light painting. After the training, we will meet up at 4:50 pm in the SLTM parking lot (behind the museum). 

WHAT TO EXPECT:  
– short trolley rides (with masks, as per SLTM rules) to two shoot locations:
⦁ the trolley yard, where trolleys will be set up for us outdoors,
⦁ an area further down the track near the old flood gates, where we can disembark and get photos of the trolley on the track before the sun sets
– access to photograph some trolleys in nearby storage areas, including PATH car #745 (which survived the collapse of WTC on 9/11);
– practicing light painting at sunset;
– putting our new skills into action at dark by capturing long exposures of light-painted trolleys!

WHAT TO BRING:camera, tripod, remote shutter release (cable or wireless) to avoid unintentional camera movement during long exposures, red flashlights (for seeing in the dark without losing night vision – more on that later); secure walking shoes/boots as we will be walking on stones, uneven soil, and railroad ties; masks for riding the trolleys; hand sanitizer if you wish. You should be comfortable with knowing how to access and change the settings on your camera, so your manual may be good to bring. If you can upload your camera’s digital manual on your phone, this may be preferable to carrying around a several-hundred-page booklet. Charge all batteries before the trip and dress for the weather as we’ll be outside the whole time.