Steam Recreations

About Don & Steam Recreations

Recent gallery updates on this site; Steam Galleries; Mainline steam, West Somerset Railway Spring 2008 (incl spring gala), South Devon Railway & North Yorkshire Moors Railway. Landscape galleries; South Devon coast, Dorset coast, Somerset levels & Somerset Coast. 

Don Bishop has been a keen enthusiast photographer for over 20 years, concentrating for the majority of that time on photographing his other great passion - steam trains. He has travelled all over the UK, often covering many miles out and back in a day, taking pictures of steam working on UK heritage and mainlines. His images are regularly published in magazines (in particular Heritage Railway, Steam Railway & Railways Illustrated) along with written articles on railway subjects and photography, books and on calendars, cards and video/DVD covers, especially of the West Somerset Railway with which he is closely involved and has been for 20 years. Don was a key member of the WSR's Special Events Planning Team (SEPT) until recently, now taking a break due to his business commitments, and is a director of the West Somerset Railway Association. In the past he spent much of his time organising and planning the big gala events on the line each year. Don is also a member of the 5029 Nunney Castle mainline support group. He had a book published of his images of the West Somerset Line in 2005 (Moods of the West Somerset Railway, Halsgrove Press). Two of his WSR images even appeared on the sides of a mainline Sprinter train unit for Wessex Trains, this unit is still seen around the South West region today.

More recently Don has expanded into scenic landscape photography and taking on commercial photographic work and has decided to become a full time professional freelance photographer. He attained an Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS) in October 2006 after a 1st year as an LRPS member. He has had a number of landscape images published including the cover of Somerset Life magazine.

Don's work is exhibited and sold at exhibitions and shows around the West Country. Future show dates for 2008 are;
North Somerset show, Wraxall near Bristol - Monday 5th May 2008
Royal Bath & West show, Shepton Mallet - Weds 28th May - Sat 31st May 2008.
Axe Vale show, Axminster - Sat 21st & Sun 22nd June 2008
Mid Devon show, Tiverton - Sat 26th July 2008
Dunster Country fair, Dunster - Weds 30th July 2008
West Somerset Railway vintage vehicle show - Sat 2nd & Sun 3rd August 2008
Honiton show, Honiton, Devon - Thursday 7th August 2008
Dunster show, Dunster - Friday 15th August 2008
Mid Somerset show, Shepton Mallet - Sunday 17th August 2008
Gillingham & Shaftsbury show - Wednesday 20th August 2008
More dates to be announced.
A small selection of mounted prints is also available at Taunton Tourist Information office, West Somerset Railway Association shop, Bishops Lydeard (framed only) & The Cheddar Gallery, Cheddar Gorge.

As part of his involvement in steam railway photography Don has organised many special events and photographic charters. Steam Recreations was founded by Don in 1994 to offer more railway photographers a chance to attend some of the then new private photographic charters. Under this banner Don has now been running photo charters over a 13 year period and over 80 charters have operated at locations all around the UK where correct locomotives and stock can be brought together to recreate past railway scenes, but with an emphasis on the West Country.

Traditionally these charters have been for experienced railway photographers, and events of this nature will continue to be part of the portfolio, however less experienced photographers and those with a passing interest in taking photos of steam trains are very welcome.  The events are designed to appeal to photographers of all ages and abilities, they give participants the chance to photograph steam railway scenes from the past when the host railway would not normally be running a public service and it is therefore possible to do something a little different such as recreating a goods train or using older carriages that would not normally be seen in public use.

A difficult element of steam photography is knowing where the best locations are and how to make the best use of the available light, attending a Steam Recreations photography event will assist you to overcome these issues. Where a private charter train is involved this will take you to a suitable location where you will alight, for this reason you need to be able bodied and reasonably fit, and the train will perform a run past for the cameras.

Don Bishop offers a variety of events - photo charters recreating past railway scenes, photographic workshops on both landscape and steam railway themes, and displays of photographic work at craft fairs and shows around the West Country. The steam railway workshops are designed to help either photographers perhaps not accustomed to taking pictures of steam trains to learn the special technique required or those more accustomed to the hobby  who would like to learn about taking pictures which put the train its landscape rather than just a train picture. The landscape workshops are for any keen photographers or those new to photography who may perhaps have recently obtained a digital SLR camera and want some field tuition on its use and capabilities. Our landscape and steam workshops are often held on a "one to one" basis on a date of your choosing. 

If you are interested in joining our photographic events, then proceed further into our site for details of forthcoming events, workshops and to see some images from past charters and other steam railway scenes along with some stunning landscapes.

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