Travel: McCormick Stillman Railroad Park, Scottsdale, AZ

McCormick Stillman Railroad Park

Ol’ Number 11 – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

Almost two years ago my family and I visited the McCormick Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale, Arizona, and I captured it with a Fujifilm X100F. The McCormick Stillman Railroad Park is one of the best city parks in America (it’s actually been ranked #1), and it truly is a neat place to go. If you are in Phoenix, Arizona, with your family, I highly recommend that you stop by this park. It’s especially magical around Christmas, as they elaborately decorate it for the holiday season. Last week my family and I returned to the McCormick Stillman Railroad Park, but this time I had a Fujifilm X-T30 and Fujinon 35mm f/2 lens to photograph the visit.

What I love about this park is that there’s something for everyone. There’s a large playground for the kids. There are barbecue grills and pavilions and large grassy areas to throw a ball or Frisbee. There’s a gift shop where you can buy ice cream in the summer and hot cocoa in the winter. There’s a museum. There’s a carousel. There are scale trains which you can ride that loop around the park. It’s both modern and historic. You can feel mindfulness and nostalgic simultaneously. It really is unique. And, of course, it can make an interesting subject for photography. I used my Kodachrome 64 film simulation recipe for most of these pictures.

49118993582_20cf43d2ee_c

Trains Boarding – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

49118882221_b0e04b6b7c_c

Santa Fe Sun – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

49118381933_4307259826_c

Aguila – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

49118376833_4ccd7aacee_c

Happy Train Riders – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

49118791151_14461c1483_c

Looking Back – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

49118806531_3f47170db1_c

P&P 42 – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

49118985402_8fea1ed0df_c

Train Rides Today – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

49118226518_fa984a07a2_c

Little Trolley Rider – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

49118291978_85df1acb02_c

It’s Not Too Late – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30

Fujifilm X100F, The Chronicle Camera (At McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park)

39542957341_3732ca5f08_z

Train Ride Through The Christmas Tunnel – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

There are many reasons to photograph. It might be because someone is paying you money to do so. It could be because you want to hang a pretty picture on your wall. Perhaps you want to share what you ate for lunch with your social network followers. Maybe you have a message you want to photographically convey. Or it might be because you are compelled to create art. There are any number of reasons to take a picture.

Ever since I purchased my Fujifilm X100F, I have found myself much more than ever before using the camera to chronicle my family and the adventures we have. I’m documenting us, the Roesch family. This is something I’ve always done, but never to the extent that I’ve done over the last six months. I’ve captured a heck-of-a-lot of family snapshots lately.

There are several reasons why I’m photographing my family more, and it comes down to gear. The X100F is the perfect chronicle camera. It’s small and lightweight enough to fit in my pocket, so I carry it around with me and it’s never in the way. The image quality is nothing short of fantastic. Many of the different film simulations are great for people pictures. The leaf shutter and built-in fill-flash are great for portraits. It produces wonderful pictures right out of the camera that don’t require editing, so I’m not bogged down with post-processing.

That last point is an important one. I used to spend hours and hours and hours sitting in front of a computer screen editing RAW files. That’s time spent away from family. My workflow was constantly backlogged. I found myself purposefully not capturing images because I knew that meant editing them, which required time that I didn’t have. In fact, I still have thousands of RAW exposures sitting on hard drives that I never got around to post-processing.

24675100307_ef58dbab28_z

Joyful Johanna – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

With the X100F, I not only have more time to capture pictures, but I’m also not worried about the time that I would have to spend with each image after exposure. I click the shutter and the image is done. It’s ready to be uploaded to the web (which is where I backup my pictures). I’ve saved so much time, and I believe that this more than anything accounts for why I’m now taking more family snapshots.

Years from now these pictures will be worth more to my family and I than any of the other ones. These will be the cherished photographs. I have an old box of slides that my grandparents captured, mostly in the 1950’s and 1960’s. There are images of Yosemite and Yellowstone and such in that box, but the pictures that are most interesting are the family snapshots. Pictures of my dad and his siblings as young kids, or my grandparents when they were young adults, are particularly fascinating.

The photographs in this post are from our family trip to Arizona last Christmas. There’s a really neat place in Scottsdale called the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, which is just an incredible place for any train enthusiast (and what kid isn’t a train enthusiast?). We spent an afternoon at the park, and these are the family snapshots that I captured. The kids had a blast! It was a really good couple of hours. Because I chronicled it with my camera–the adventure was documented–my kids and their future kids will have these treasured exposures. This will be meaningful to them.

The Fujifilm X100F is a great camera because, among other things, it makes family snapshots easy, producing excellent results without fuss. I’m so glad that I purchased it six months ago. I can’t wait to use it to chronicle the next family adventure, wherever and whenever that might be.

24675067137_b1daba971a_z

Looking Out The Bright Window – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

39542940191_784a95f262_z

Christmas Joy – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

27766513349_3d7e4040e2_z

What Time Does The Train Leave? – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

27766502949_2ab8774a72_z

Leaving The Station – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

24674958077_b8e0194d59_z

Learning Scale – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

25672072468_760a990c80_z

Joshua At The Train Museum – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

39542835711_30682a2bdd_z

Trolley Driver – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

38646528025_911c0af314_z

Bottle Time – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

27766377509_86ef98d9bb_z

Happy Holiday Baby – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

27766304629_60f4a014d5_z

Happy Girls – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

38646404845_e71197722a_z

Joy On The Lighted Path – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

27766316389_63f269725c_z

Christmas Bulb Reflection – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F

38833641974_a276a4297a_z

Our Arizona Christmas – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100F (captured by a stranger)