Western Railroad Discussion > Low crossbuck in silhouette Light?

Oops, I think I lost a little something in translation. I guess the reignition of the infamous Low Light dual with that “Don guy” from the left coast got me a bit rattled… ;^)

In the fall of 1972 I opted to take 2 hours of Design, Drawing & Composition to start off my junior year in high school. At the time it was just a class to fill in some mandatory number of credit hours toward getting an actual diploma in May of 1973. I had NO clue how valuable this class was until I started poking my right eyeball into a Pentax view-finder, and started thinking I was a photographer in late 1976.

During that class we were taught how to use basic technique in several different art forms, including water color. What got my attention here was the ability to apply a permanent pen & ink overlay on a basic water color “background” without the ink running all over hello & creation. My first attempt was something I had seen out in the boonies as a lot younger kid. I turned in a vertical image of a basic blue, water color sky with a rural utility pole line carrying 4 wires in silhouette. Except I depicted the 3rd wire (L-R) as being severed with its end swinging gracefully down to, but not quite touching the ground. As I recall my art teacher told me it was a little simplistic, but he gave me an “A” because he liked the composition.

Although I’ve shot 1 or 2 bazillion sunset silhouettes in 4½ decades, this particular one from 6 days ago made all those memories from 48 years ago come flooding back. The glaring difference back then was I applied absolutely no RR content all those 48 years ago. And that was because the only motive power I was interested in was the vertical, natural, DUAL system that was powered by caloric rather that diesel intake. I especially like those dual systems that reached ALL THE WAY down to the ground, if ya know what I mean…

1. Looking west along rural Dickinson County 1800 Rd as it intersects with the BNSF Strong City Sub about 3 miles south of Enterprise, KS.
Photo date: March 28, 2021.

Thanks for looking back & forth!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/03/21 21:02 by santafe199.

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The background sky is reminiscent of Edward Hopper's painting "Railroad Sunset 1929".  Well done.

Very nice..!!

Great shot!

Lance,
Beautiful image! In high school I majored in art, not just a filler course. In class I created a similar image in a block print. Wires with icicles hanging and a lineman on the pole.
 I also did a lithograph of a wooden interurban with trolley wire and poles. Wires were always captivating against the sky. Those prints actually survived our flooded basement a few years ago. I did lose all my hot rod pen and ink on watercolor images. Once they got wet and stuck together they were destroyed. I desperately scanned the dry remains but they are gone.
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