Another difficulty I didn’t expect was that the dome (panoramic) seats give you a view that is just so vast even a wide angle lens does not do it justice. Further the necessary frames for the panes of glass are not an obvious intrusion because the scene is moving and/or you can move you head. Instead the camera can only capture a specific view, and window frames can get in the way, unless you have you camera or phone close to the window and that directs you view to only a sub-portion of the vista. However if you click the shutter button at just the right moment you can get a wonderful photo (it helps to have heard the announcement that the waterfall is coming up on the right).
The even more difficult aspect is to avoid the internal reflection from the glass, The dome has curved sides and the carriage with well lit with natural light (over head is glass also). So your reflection will definitely be in the image you photograph. The standard trick of angling the camera to the glass pane only works with flat windows (the carriage picture windows are flat and thus fine). Also it helps to wear a darker shirt and be conscious of where the reflections are on the window. In the end I just took the photos anyway when the reflections were too hard to avoid (they are not flying saucers).
Photography is all right if you don't mind looking at the world from the point of view of a paralysed Cyclops. - David Hockney
Before photography any artist wanting to make a self portrait had to resort to a mirror (and therefore the resulting portrait will be back to front). A few brave artists, and MC Escher is a prominent one of them, dared to include reference in their painting and illustrations that they were indeed looking at reflections. Thus I think it is cleverly both.
