Going to and coming from work each day I cross railroad tracks running between Salisbury, NC and Charlotte, NC. Each crossing finds me peering far up and down the tracks not so much checking for an on-coming train, the signals tell me there usually aren’t any, but feeling the attraction of the receding rails.
This morning I pulled over and claimed as mine a few enjoyable moments lost in photography. I’m not sure which was more fun, photographing the attraction of the rails, or just that I took those unexpected moments for myself. Probably that I altered course and took those moments.
I processed this image in NIK HDR Efex Pro and Color Efex Pro with a few final adjustments in Adobe Lightroom pushing it perhaps a little beyond my normal comfort level.
The light on the tracks is especially nice. Railroad tracks always speak to me about adventure and the unknown. In this case, the tangle of trees on either side of those rails adds a tantalizing sense of mystery with a hint of danger.
Congratulations on taking that moment for yourself. By the way, pushing yourself outside your normal processing zone certainly worked well for this photo.
There have been moments in my life when the lifestyle of a hobo sounded momentarily attractive…it had more to do about my circumstances then anything involving how hobo’s live. :-)
The tracks have a million stories. As a kid I lived in a city on the Hudson River anmd spent many times fishing and watching the trains, both sides of the river had tracks one for freight and the other side for passengers. My grandfather worked for NY Central RR so I saw a lot with him.
Fishing and watching trains…sounds like easy living or perhaps a day gone by now doesn’t it. I bet you’ve got some great memories with your grandfather.
Trains and tracks do have a certain mystique. You captured it well here.
Thanks, PJ. I don’t know that I’d ever have the courage or perhaps the stupidity to try and “catch one” hobo style, but they do stir up a longing.
This looks like a section of track that I’ve walked many a time. A most inviting image.
Steve, I believe train tracks are one of those universal attractions for some reason. Perhaps it’s the sense of adventure man has?
It’s like roads, right, the illusion that someplace, sometime, is better than now, here.
Time
Run like a freight train
won’t you
take me down the line
there’s so much I can never say
of the ruins left behind . . .
Eric Anderson
“…unexpected moments for myself.” I like how you say that and live it. Oh, if we would only do that more often.