Katie Edwards: capturing tulips by train

Spring is slowly peeking around the corner, which means floral blooms and fields of colour are on the horizon.

In the midst of the grey and gloom, photographer Katie Edward's tulip by train series caught our eye. Inspired by aerial images of Dutch tulip fields, she headed to the Netherlands to capture them in her own way. It took hours of travel and careful timing to perfect each shot.

Katie has found her niche in capturing the world through train windows - turning fleeting views into works of art. Now based in London, Katie grew up in Derbyshire. "I started making films when I was a child," she says, "but it was only after I took a street photography lesson with American photographer John Free that I found the confidence to take photography more seriously." 

Most of Katie's photos are taken with a Canon 5D Mark III, but sometimes she rents cameras for specific trips. Her train photos are shot on a 70-200mm F2.8 DG OS HSM Sports lens, with an aperture of f/2.8 for a soft window frame edge, and a shutter speed of 1/8000 sec to make sure that everything is crispy sharp. "I shoot thousands of photographs on burst mode, as the train is moving too fast to be able to see the details in the moment," she explains, "so the editing is a lot of fun because it’s like discovering the images for the first time."

We caught up with Katie to discuss the challenges, memorable moments and creative processes that brought her tulips series to life.

Tell us about the inspiration behind this series

I’d long wanted to visit the tulip fields in the Netherlands. I’d been amazed by Tom Hegen’s aerial images of the fields, they reminded me of Rothko paintings. I was already taking photos through the train window in the UK and the tulips seemed like a wonderful subject to attempt to capture by rail. I studied satellite images to familiarise myself with the sections of track that would pass parallel to the flowers.

You said you spent about six hours on trains to get these photos - tell us a bit about this experience

Yes - on the first train from Haarlem to Leiden I didn’t manage to get a single good photo! It took me a few trips to memorise the fields so that I would be able to anticipate and capture them. I think this was the most times I had ever arrived in the same station in one day! There were also two kinds of train and in the end I decided that I preferred the longer window shape for this particular series.

Was there a memorable moment or particular photo you loved?

The train is moving fast, so it’s impossible to know what I’ve captured until I have a chance to look through my photos, which means the fun is in the editing. There are several details that stand out: a pair of people working in the fuchsia flowers right next to the train and the tulips are so clear that I can count them. Or a bird in flight over a sea of red petals. I also had a chance to buy a big bunch of tulips from the Floating Flower Market in Amsterdam and a few bulbs to take back to London. I pressed the petals and the bulbs are beginning to sprout on my window sill right now.

What inspired you to capture the world through train windows? 

On a train trip to England's Lake District, I was standing in the vestibule before my stop, and I noticed that the hills outside were framed perfectly by the train window. It’s much darker by the door, so the frame is highly contrasted with the bright outside. After that journey, I always have my camera with me on the train. I love how the train window is able to make vast landscapes more comprehensible and relatable. Initially, it was about individual moments. It grew into a kind of data collection project, because of the sheer number of windows I captured and how they looked presented as a mosaic or as linear panoramas. My father is a computer whizz and combined edge-detection techniques and geometry to square-up, crop and assemble the photos.

Katie Edwards is based in the UK. Her exhibition in The Observatory Gallery, Portrait of America, is on until 30th April, info here. Find Katie on Instagram and TikTok.

Take Katie's trip

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