This photo-essay brings you in Nancy (France) for a walk during a snowstorm. You are going to discover railroad installations but also realize how the storm grew in intensity.
I don’t plan this essay to be a journalist related work. It is more my personal vision of a special event in my home town. Misko Kranjec’s recent work inspired me a lot. I choose to process my pictures in black and white. By doing this, I’m placing my picture away from the Space and Time flow. They could have been made anywhere at any time. The main actor of my essay if the snow storm, growing and affecting the railway and its world. The black and white processing also enhance the graphics of the picture. A train is just a train (as symbol) and no more a BB 27000 class locomotive and a manifest!
This picture had to be the first of the series. For the first time, I was breaking the rules. For the first time, I had moved away from the classical “three quarter wedgie”.
I had been taking classical shots since the 90s. I kept taking them because they were the only one accepted by the railfan magazines. Most of their readers are modelers with a need for the details that reproduce the Railroad life. Year after year, article after article, I mastered this style.
Life brought me to North America at a time when I was beginning to get bored with taking classic pictures. In this vast young continent, I discovered new visions of Railroad Photography. My vision of Railroad photography was forever changed.
Today’s picture is the first one that I planned to take differently. The subject is a BNSF freight train. The shape and colours of the locomotives make the identification of the locomotives easy: SD40-2s. The sun and landscape were both in the right place to take a great classic shot. I purposely focused on the grass in the foreground however, blurring the train, placing it out of focus, giving the reader’s mind an opportunity to imagine the details of the scene. You can easily understand why I chose this picture to be the first of the series.
Meet Kristof de Veirman, a Belgian photographer and founder of the Underground Train Movement. He talks about his vision on Railroad Photography. Also discover a day of railfaning with him on the railway line that link Toul to Dijon (East of France). [more to read...]
This will be a simple photo-essay. I am going to describe my visit to the roundhouses of the Chemins de Fer du Luxembourg (Luxembourg State Railways, CFL). It happened a Saturday morning. I went to an office and talked with a worker. I had to sign a paper. This was the key to open the door to this mysterious place!
This place was full with locomotives but nobody was there. These were summer holidays and the day was part of a week-end. This probably explained the human beings’ absence. Weekdays are busier. Sometimes, I stopped to imagine the workers’ moves, their gestures…
Main gallery – Year 2010 : you will find the 2010 selection of picture. This section is updated on a regular basis.
Most recent pictures are first in the list. Keep checking for updates!
Last update :09.12.2010
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