Jamison Nicholls, a sophomore at ALHS, has sparked an interest in one of the world’s leading publications of railroading and trains, Train Magazine. Nicholls is involved in sports broadcasting and photography here at ALHS. Since 2015, Nicholls has been building his knowledge about railroad photography and train activities. But why?

“I used to spend a lot of my free time at museums and historical places in Iowa,” Nicholls said. “And when I saw a lot of train information, actual trains and the history of railroading across our nation, it got me interested in railroad photography.”

Ever since Nicholls was inspired by the museums and historical places in Iowa, he has been working on improving his photography skills to get him to where he is today. Nicholls is interested in railroad photography but is also interested in the two separately. His interest with railroad photography goes beyond just the two together. 

“Late 2018, I bought a Canon SX530HS and I started researching the camera and getting to know its features. At the time I was also interested in railroading and I combined the two, kinda to take pictures of trains and it was successful and led to what I could do today.”

Nicholls’s success in railroad photography has been getting popular since 2015. 

“I started a YouTube channel that is starting to gain subscribers. It got to a point where I got thousands of subscribers and one million views on each video. And once it got that huge, I started moving to other platforms where those gained more traction as well.”

Nicholls’ social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Flicker, and Snapchat have gained the attention of bigger platforms like Train Magazine. Getting the attention of Train Magazine means a lot to Nicholls’ personal goals.

“It means that my photography is getting better and that means I can expand my boundaries more and more and succeed in my progress with photography more,” Nicholls said. “I can see myself using my photography using those skills to go journalism photography like the news or newspaper to take photos or videos for them.”

Nicholls will continue to show progress with his photography skills to continue to gain traction with his pictures. 

“If anybody else is interested in railroading or photography, my Instagram is @hr_railpics.”