Essex Steam Train ala Annie Leibovitz and Vogue Magazine

I was flipping through my February Vogue the other day and came across this gorgeous photo spread of Diddy and Natalia Vodianova shot by Annie Leibovitz.   I loved the beautiful train, the moodiness of the shoot, the classic clothes — and couldn’t help but feel like I’d been there before – at least on part of the project — especially when I saw the photo below.

When I turned to the last page it became obvious – they’d shot the second part of this scrumptious collection of images right down the highway from me at the Essex Steam Train – one of the Connecticut River Valley’s most beloved and ubiquitous attractions.  One of my neighbors works on the train, and I can actually hear the whistle wailing up the valley most afternoons – it’s a wonderful part of living in this area.  I’m so thrilled that Annie L. and the editors of Vogue thought so too.

Here’s the spot where the shot above was taken ~ I took this just the other day:

It doesn’t even look like they’ve moved the trains much since this shoot which must have been in October or so.

Vogue has a great behind the scenes video that is fabulous:

If you want to see more images of the train taken by another very talented photographer, check out Teretta’s Photo Set on Flickr with many more images like the one below.

I’ll be sure to take some shots the next time I see it running and post them here – it has an ice cutter on it right now to plow through the snow and ice – that with the steam against the frozen river makes it look so dramatic.

Tagged as: annie leibovitz, essex, photography, steam train, vogue