When I saw all the steam coming out from all around me, I had to record it on video. A picture couldn't have captured the effect and the movement of this vapor.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Random nothings (1)
Every day I walk the same route to my faculty and occasionally stop to enjoy its familiar air. I take pictures now and then since I’m one to admire its random beauty. There’s nothing special about this path, nothing intriguing. It’s not even long enough sometimes to go through a whole song on my iPod. I just tak
e notice of small changes and random things that peak my interest. Like today… I noticed all the cars in the parking lot seemed stuck in ice. Other times I notice the sky change colors… or the just the plain ole’ winter weather that gets in my way is taken into photograph…
I love how you can document specific moments into the memory bank with a camera. Although sometimes its nothing compared to the real thing…
Monday, March 2, 2009
Railfan
After coming across this great definition of "Railfan" at http://www.reference.com/browse/trainspotter , I've discovered that I am more of a railway photographing enthusiast than a pure trainspotter. So I guess it's true... I guess I am a Railfan.
A Photographer's Journey
I’ve come across a wonderful book called Trains: a Photographer’s Journey. I thought that I was one of very few photographers who had more of an artistic view on the way I photographed trains since I couldn’t find anyone else who wasn’t a railfan when taking pictures of those machines. But with this book, I discovered Graeme Outerbridge, a photographer who journeyed the world just for the simple pleasure of traveling on trains of all types and photographing them. After flipping through the pages, I realized he had a very abstract way of representing these locomotives. His color photography on these many types of trains from Canada to Spain to Australia is quite vivid and rustic. Some of his abstract photography concentrates more on lines, colors and shapes, and others on movements. Not to think that this book is entirely abstract; there are some very crisp clear shots of trains out in the distance with all its striking beauty and sceneries.I feel the need to write this wonderful citation from his introduction since I feel that I can relate:
“I’m not the typical train photographer, nor do I have the railfan’s exact metaphysics concerning every detail of railroading. My approach was to treat each train as a new experience and let the journey reveal hidden facts. I wanted to find a visual language to express the experience of train travel. I did my best to capture the sense of movement in my photographs, but of course the sounds of the road and the smell of diesel are missing. A train whistle in the night conjures dreams. One feels an excitement of possibilities; maybe it’s the call to adventure or the promise of escape from troubles that feel inescapable.”
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Winter
Winds gusting, snow blowing...
It shouldn't stop us from going outside...
It doesn't stop me...
The cold
The frost
The snow
The ice
The clouds
Its ominous in some way, forboding...
And when it ends...
Its ominous in some way, forboding...
And when it ends...
It's ultimate silence...
I love it.
Alone...
Every now and then, I need to take a moment in my busy life to just take a breather. Often enough, I put on my coat and head outside in the calm winter’s night to enjoy the fresh air and the beauty of this town I’ve ultimately called my own. So much I’ve walked the same route, the same path, and the same distance to the tracks now that I feel this familiarity to the surrounding area. So much so that I’m not afraid anymore to stay and wait through the night in the same dark area for long periods of time for the train to pass. I’m less afraid in the winter, since it’s so cold. I nestle myself in a snow bank near the tracks and put on my headphones until I feel the rumbling of the locomotive engine nearing. Although I may be out of sight from civilization, I’m not far enough to not hear when the railway warning signals descend
. Therefore, I am still safely to the roads distance and yet, know when the train is approaching. It’s a great place to relax and clear my thoughts and just be…I never thought I’d feel so much solitude during these moments. I feel as if sitting there, watching, hearing, feeling the train go by, I’m alone, on my own. No one is there to tell me what to do, what to say or how to act. I sit there and feel that I have no responsibilities in this world. I feel like I’m escaping. I imagine myself jumping the train, and never coming back. And the fact that I much rather enjoy watching the freight than the passenger train, not only because of its length, but because of its ominous power, it seems to relates to me so much more. It relates to me it because I feel like this train, is a loner…
Being a loner, to me, isn’t a bad thing. I much rather prefer being alone, to my own thoughts, than trying to make the world understand me, because in the end, only I understand myself. I know it’s not always good to keep everything inside, but who will better value and appreciate me than myself? Besides, sometimes it takes too much effort to convince the world of whom and what you are and you can get tired of it.
I’m tired of it….
That’s why I love to sit in the snow and watch the train pass…alone.
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