10 Questions For Mark Perry

Railroad magazine used to have a regular feature highlighting an "Interesting Railfan". I thought I would run a similar series with some railfans who have agreed to participate. I'm asking each railfan 10 questions, some standard and some customized for the particular person. I hope you enjoy it.

Mark Perry is a professional railroader and a long-time railfan. His work has appeared in several places, including Greg McDonnell's great book Wheat Kings. Mark was kind enough to agree to be the third in this series (see all).

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

53 years old, father of two boys, born and raised in Winnipeg MB, work for CN as a locomotive engineer, been there 36 years.

2. What do you like to photograph besides trains?

Pretty much any subject that catches my eye, but I do shoot a lot of Ukrainian Churches across the Prairies.

3. Where’s your favourite place to railfan?

Anything on the prairies in Canada and the USA

4. If you could railfan anywhere, anytime, where and when would it be?

India, early morning or late evening in the summer.

5. What’s your favourite railway?

Nothing in particular but I do like shortlines and industrials the best.

GWWD and sunflowers. Photo by Mark Perry

6. When you were still shooting film, did you shoot slides or film? Why?

35mm slide film, either Kodachrome or Fujichrome. It was way better than grainy print film.

7. Did you ever experiment with video?

No, not really, maybe a little bit on my cell phone. I do not even know how to shoot video with my Nikon DSLR’s!!!

8. What’s the one thing you would recommend to any budding railfan?

If you can and you are safe to do so, always get closer to a subject. As well use a tripod for a large lens and never be afraid to try something different.  Everyone can shoot a "Plain Jane" photo, but it’s that one killer different image that always stands out in peoples' minds.

9. Does working for a railroad diminish or increase your interest in photographing trains?

I’m not sure. Working for the railway certainly got me opportunities to take photos that otherwise were unobtainable.

10. Do you have any projects you’re working on or planning for?

A story for Kalmbach’s annual LOCOMOTIVE magazine and scanning the Peter Cox slide collection.

You can find Mark at:

• His Flickr page
• His 2013 "365 project"
• His slide shows

Thanks, Mark! Follow this link to see more "10 Questions" posts.