View allAll Photos Tagged rustoleum
Today started out early. I went out to a spot that's not too far away but takes some effort to get out to. This really is a great area, and one of my favorite places to be. For just hiking around, or for benching. It's an amazing place. It's almost surreal how big and crazy the rocks and landscape are here.
Arrived at 9 AM, and after a short hike out to the tracks, the trains started rolling by. One after another, it was a super busy day. I've never seen so many autoracks during a session. Autoracks, at least for me are like rare birds, but today, they just kept coming! Caught pieces I hadn't seen before from some of my favorite writers, and that always makes for a great day out. Weather was great, I'm guessing 80F, but the wind.... The wind kept things pretty cool out. Almost cold, but not quite. Just about
perfect.
I saw a deer!! I've never seen anything larger than a lizard when out here. While waiting for the next train I looked over and saw something kinda' hopping over a double set of tracks about 75 ft. from me. At first I thought it was either some kinda dog, or a coyote, but it was big. I looked over at my bag, in case it ran towards me and I needed to grab it and run, and looked back to see it hop over the tracks, down an embankment about 15 ft. high, onto the access road which is about 20 ft. wide and with two
hops it was gone into the bushes. Really cool !!
Ended up leaving at around 4:30 PM, so a little over 7 hours. With longer days, and the way the sun travels here, it's almost better to show up later. There's a time around noon where no matter which side of the tracks your on, the lighting on the trains sucks. But hey, I'm out, away from society, seeing nature, seeing trains, graff, getting exercise, fresh air, and just plain getting away from my regular life..
Some people do yoga, some people meditate, some go to therapy. This is how I wipe away my daily life a couple times a month for a few hours.
Just wanted to throw in, I know every piece I flick isn't a banger, but I'm documenting graff. Today's toy, may be tomorrows king. And I'll have proof that he or she also was once a toy! Solid Gold!! :-)
As ALWAYS, thanks to the writers!
Writers, fellow benchers, and railfans, stay safe out there!!
For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Instagram: @soilentseven
As usual, I'll be back in a few days to start going through and tagging my flicks with the the writer's names that I can figure out.
================
Oh, also as I'm finishing up editing photos from last weekend, heading into this weekend, I'm watching "Martha a picture story" Documentary about Martha Cooper, one of the OG's in documenting graff with high quality flicks years ago. One of the original authors of the Subway Art book. If you can swing renting it online to watch, or picking up a Blu Ray from Vinegar Syndrome, do so, it's a great film. vinegarsyndrome.com/products/martha-a-picture-story-utopia/
Windy today. Decided to not go out in the desert and be pelted by dust all day. Drove out to the Santa Fe Depot again in San Bernardino. Ended being windblown all day, just no dust. First thing I see as I get to the depot is someone I kinda' know. PasadenaSub Colin. Kid who's running a nice YouTube channel filming freights, and Metrolink videos. You should check out his channel at: www.youtube.com/c/PasadenaSubColin Also check out my man JonanJello photographing and filming freight graffiti on THE daily! 352 videos and counting!! www.youtube.com/user/jonanjello
Shot today's photos on a few lenses I ended up switching lenses between two cameras. My normal lens for freights is the Fujifilm 23mm f/2, but being so close to the tracks at the depot I mostly used the 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8. It's hard to use anything else that close and capture the pieces straight on. Most of these shots I'm between 10-25 or so feet away from the train. Much closer than I normally shoot when I'm out on a hike. Still getting used to shooting this close. The cars roll by much faster when your this close!
Cameras: Fujifilm X-Pro3 & Fujifilm X-E3
Lenses: 7Artisans 7.5mm f/2.8, Fujifilm 16mm F/2.8 & Fujifilm 23mm F/2
For video slideshows...
In spite of its larger scale, the detail on the model needed particular care to finish, but did give the opportunity to create some impact!
The chrome work, which took a full 2 hours to mask prior to painting, was done using Rustoleum Chrome aerosol spray (Wilkos).which has again given pretty outstanding results.
[Sorry I haven't posted in a while, spent a lot of time working on the book]
I had a weird, disappointing, and ultimately good time out trackside today.
Got to my spot about 10:00 AM or so, then 20 minutes or so to hike out to my spot. Immediately the freights started coming. One after the next for a little while.
After a few freights, I texted my friend @railfanscajonpass that I was out there. This is a friend who benches 5-6 days a week, so I figured he was probably out somewhere close. He was, he pulled up like 20 minutes later and we hung out for an hour or two, and then he was off to hit up another spot.
After a while it seemed like the freights slowed down and I had some time before the next one. I hiked over I would guess 1/4 mile to a bridge spot that always has new graff. That spot also has one throw up that I always shoot because everyone who comes through there signs it. White outline and the black fill has probably 100 smaller (in size) names written in the fill. Every time I come up here there's new names. I've been flicking this for a couple years now. This time however, someone buffed and went over the entire piece and a piece next to it. What the hell ?!
Look, I'm not even a writer, but damn. Even I know that this wasn't right...
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Later, I was at a different spot, and two dudes were acting super sketchy really close to where I was, which weirded me out enough that I hiked further down the tracks and this lead to something, I found another good view to catch the freights from. A little something different you might notice in today's photos. Turns out one guy was painting under the trestle, and the other guy kept coming up by me as a lookout. Whatever... I get out there to be away from people. So, I did. And found a new spot!
Caught a lot of great pieces today, got to hang out with my friend, and didn't get bit by any rattlesnakes! In the end, it was a good day.
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Pick up a copy of my book if you can. Every little bit helps me out.
SoCal Freight Benching: Graffiti on Freight Trains - Vol.1
www.amazon.com/SoCal-Freight-Benching-Graffiti-Trains/dp/...
Long session today (9:30AM - 5:30PM) at my least favorite spot to flick graffiti, but one of my favorite spots for the amount of traffic this spot gets. There's also a crossing here, so lots of horn action! The engineers also know "railfans" come out here so sometimes they get a little creative with the honking.
Grand total of flicks taken, 803, total being posted, 616.
Right out of the gate I fucked up big time. First train I saw go by as I arrived was an Amtrak. Got down to the spot and immediately I hear the horns coming from behind the hill. Get the camera out, lens cap off and 30 seconds later and what do I see, autoracks, and lots of them. Sweet! I get in position, and they're coming by quick. I'm just barely framing them up and snapping the flicks. Saw my first Ichabod E2E car, Green/Black. Woah dude!! Cool. (my inner SoCal surfer came out). and then it's gone.
Sat down and looked through photos on little 3 in. screen on back of camera, not good. I zoom in, but I can't tell if photos are sharp or not. Lighting seems ok, but can't tell if sharp. Go to take a quick snap of a little tag on a fence post and camera will not focus. WTH?? Camera was switched into manual focus mode from a project I was working on days previously. ARRRGH!! So out of like 30-40 autoracks, they're all blurry.
Still posting 3 of them, just to document, but I will call them out as bad photos. I was so pissed that I almost went back to the car. Glad I didn't. Throughout the day I caught some really nice pieces from some of my favorite writers. I didn't give up, and came home with gold, as you'll see going through this latest set.
FYI I managed to catch up with some of the day's last autoracks and got shots of them in way better light. So 8-10 pieces shot today have doubles that were shot in two different locations.
Also ended up meeting up with (YouTube) Railroad Fans of the Cajon Pass. He was just down the road from where I was and came down for a bit. He even brought that vicious dog "Buddy" with him. Glad I survived the encounter.
If you want to see some of these cars rolling, here's the videos he shot while I was there. If you look close or not so close in one vid, you might see me in action down the line. Anyway......
As always, thanks to the writers, fellow benchers, old, and new friends, Stay safe out there!!!
For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Decided to drive out and check out a new spot for me. Looks promising, but by the time I got out there I was shooting almost directly into the sun.
Spot I was at today was on one side of 4 tracks. Lowest track was on my side. There's a road that will take me to the other side of those tracks, or I can hike over there, but I think if I go over there, the highest track will then be close to me and the other's will be too low for me to flick graff on the cars, especially on stackers where all the writing is down pretty low. I'll have the sun on my side, but I won't be able to see anything.
I was only out there 15-20 minutes today, so I'll have to bring some snacks, and some water and go out again and hang out for a few hours and see how things go. I really like this spot, but not sure it's going to work out for me.
Stay safe out there guys/girls. If you see it, flick it!!
To see my freight graffiti videos click here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOdGrtyTsyWVhLVHkwY0_-iu8P...
I gave something different a try this time around and experimented with making my own waterslide decals. Here's an example of a few. I used Papilio clear and white waterslide paper with a generous coating of rustoleum glossy enamel spray. Try some yourself! Remember to get the right paper for you printer (inkjet or laserjet...it really does matter.)
Weather's pretty much crap and I don't have any decent indoor lights so photography has to wait...
Uploading these WAY late. Sorry. Moving to new PC after being on the same Win7-Pro machine for like 8+ years (I don't like change!), and it's been a mini-nightmare. Caught these a couple weeks ago at my local BNSF / Santa Fe yard.
====================
FYI.
These were shot with a 7.5mm fisheye lens because of the location, and poorly corrected so they look somewhat normal...
====================
Decided to head out to my local yard on a Saturday, got there at 9:30 and I was the only one out at the freight side platform. After a half hour I noticed someone down at the other end that I thought I recognized. Messaged him, and yep, it was him. My dude PasadenaSubColin.
We were both out there to just enjoy the day, me catching freights, and him freights & Metrolinks. He's a good dude to have around, as he lets me know when something cool is on its way into the yard, and I appreciate that he's all plugged into the grid to give the "heads up" when something's coming soon.
Well, this time I had, or rather found out, the "Heads Up" about 15 mins before he let me in on what would be the joke of the day. There apparently was a bicentennial engine coming through the depot today on its way to a RR museum in Perris, CA. The 5704!!!!! Big whoop.... One dude chatted me up asking if I knew when "IT" was supposed to come through. I had no idea what he was talking about and told him I don't follow trains. :-)
15-20 mins. later Colin messages me an FYI, that there's a "Special" train about to roll through. I've been in this situation before. I'm there benching graff, and all of the sudden 20 cars pull up and a bunch of "Railfans" jump out of their cars, run over, take a few photos of the "Special" car(s), engine or train, and when it's gone, they're gone. I feel like these are the people who only get out of bed when something "cool" is rolling through town. I really doubt they care about day-to-day operations of the RR. And honestly there's no way they give a shit about the graff.
Most people out at the tracks are cool, but there's a certain group of people who seem to have zero social skills when something "Special" is coming through, and we had at least one on this day. Some dude that kept walking past us, standing in my spot, like he was going to shoot from there when I got there at 9:30, and he got there at Noon. Walking past us by inches, and not saying a word, head down... Walking in front of cameras that were filming, hanging around my backpack and gear while I was like 30 feet away, just weird, un-cool shit. I'm not down with any of this. But I don't want to burn this spot as a bencher and didn't start any trouble, even though I wanted to punch this dude.. GRRR!
Will not be posting flicks of this special train car. Sorry. I saw it, I flicked it, but the whole experience was crap, and it was just one engine, big deal. I was there for the graff that you're seeing me post.
Was hot, no clouds, and at my end of the platform I had a 2ft. x 3ft. spot of slowly moving shade that was cast by one of the platform lights. After a while Colin and I were sharing this tiny moving spot of shade. No worries, we get along just fine.
BTW: PasadenaSubColin is a FOAMER!!!!!!!! ;-p
Managed to re-flick a few cars that I caught at the beginning of the month at the other end of the valley. Anyway........ I'll be back to try and ID these pieces soon. Might take me a little longer than usual as, like I said before, new computer, new crap to deal with..
Stay safe out there homies.
And..... As always, Thanks to the writers!
For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Please Subscribe to the YouTube, every little bit helps.
Went out to the "new" spot again today.Left earlier, but still got there a little late, but I'm learning my way around shooting into the sun...
Lots of weird shit went down today, but most of it is boring, so I'm not going to go into it unless you want to hear about the foamer that almost hit me me in his car at 50MPH TWICE!!! Blue Honda driver, I'm going to find out who you are!
Pretty chill spot, but most of my spots I'm the only one there. This spot, down the road there were a bunch of railfans / foamers, and other people that come out here to try out their Jeeps and trucks in the dirt so they can tell their co-workers on Monday that they went "Off Roading" over the weekend. Totally fine, but lots more traffic than I'm used to. I'm very much used to the occasional homeless person, hiker, fellow bencher etc, but "normal" people freak me out a little. They want to stop and talk, they have questions for you, etc. I don't want it, and I don't like it when I'm trying to get away. Not that I REALLY mind it, I'm just being bitchy.
Uploading on a Tuesday night, drinking Guinness, Cheech & Chong's: Next Movie on TV, Headphones on (Grado Labs), playing Minor Threat through an Altoids tin headphone amplifier at 11. Life's Good!!!!!!
Hope you guys are having fun peeping my flicks.
Stay safe out there guys/girls. Look both ways! If you see it, flick it!!
If you like my flicks at least leave a little comment.
To see my freight graffiti videos click here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOdGrtyTsyWVhLVHkwY0_-iu8P...
I had some time today to get out to the tracks for about 5-1/2 hours to one of my favorite sopts. Weather was great and there was a lot of activity.
Spotted quite a few great pieces, and a few pieces from a couple of my favorite writers. Lots of autoracks today!! Most of all, had fun! And that's what it's all about. When it's not fun anymore, quit..
Will be back in a few days to ID the pieces I can. If you know a writer's ID that I haven't identified, comment below. I have a hard time with some of them. After 10k pieces it's a lot easier, but ya' know..
As always, thanks to the writers! Stay safe out there!!
To see my freight graffiti videos click here:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOdGrtyTsyWVhLVHkwY0_-iu8P...
Uploading these WAY late. Sorry. Moving to new PC after being on the same Win7-Pro machine for like 8+ years (I don't like change!), and it's been a mini-nightmare. Caught these a couple weeks ago at my local BNSF / Santa Fe yard.
====================
FYI.
These were shot with a 7.5mm fisheye lens because of the location, and poorly corrected so they look somewhat normal...
====================
Decided to head out to my local yard on a Saturday, got there at 9:30 and I was the only one out at the freight side platform. After a half hour I noticed someone down at the other end that I thought I recognized. Messaged him, and yep, it was him. My dude PasadenaSubColin.
We were both out there to just enjoy the day, me catching freights, and him freights & Metrolinks. He's a good dude to have around, as he lets me know when something cool is on its way into the yard, and I appreciate that he's all plugged into the grid to give the "heads up" when something's coming soon.
Well, this time I had, or rather found out, the "Heads Up" about 15 mins before he let me in on what would be the joke of the day. There apparently was a bicentennial engine coming through the depot today on its way to a RR museum in Perris, CA. The 5704!!!!! Big whoop.... One dude chatted me up asking if I knew when "IT" was supposed to come through. I had no idea what he was talking about and told him I don't follow trains. :-)
15-20 mins. later Colin messages me an FYI, that there's a "Special" train about to roll through. I've been in this situation before. I'm there benching graff, and all of the sudden 20 cars pull up and a bunch of "Railfans" jump out of their cars, run over, take a few photos of the "Special" car(s), engine or train, and when it's gone, they're gone. I feel like these are the people who only get out of bed when something "cool" is rolling through town. I really doubt they care about day-to-day operations of the RR. And honestly there's no way they give a shit about the graff.
Most people out at the tracks are cool, but there's a certain group of people who seem to have zero social skills when something "Special" is coming through, and we had at least one on this day. Some dude that kept walking past us, standing in my spot, like he was going to shoot from there when I got there at 9:30, and he got there at Noon. Walking past us by inches, and not saying a word, head down... Walking in front of cameras that were filming, hanging around my backpack and gear while I was like 30 feet away, just weird, un-cool shit. I'm not down with any of this. But I don't want to burn this spot as a bencher and didn't start any trouble, even though I wanted to punch this dude.. GRRR!
Will not be posting flicks of this special train car. Sorry. I saw it, I flicked it, but the whole experience was crap, and it was just one engine, big deal. I was there for the graff that you're seeing me post.
Was hot, no clouds, and at my end of the platform I had a 2ft. x 3ft. spot of slowly moving shade that was cast by one of the platform lights. After a while Colin and I were sharing this tiny moving spot of shade. No worries, we get along just fine.
BTW: PasadenaSubColin is a FOAMER!!!!!!!! ;-p
Managed to re-flick a few cars that I caught at the beginning of the month at the other end of the valley. Anyway........ I'll be back to try and ID these pieces soon. Might take me a little longer than usual as, like I said before, new computer, new crap to deal with..
Stay safe out there homies.
And..... As always, Thanks to the writers!
For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Please Subscribe to the YouTube, every little bit helps.
I finally got the nerve to stain my dollhouse roof shingles. I really did not know if these shingles would just curl right up after staining. I've heard horror stories. Fortunately, I applied them with Liquid Nails over 20 years ago and they held tight. I'm so glad I'm not going to be spending the next few days picking off bits of shingles.
I've been thinking about doing this for months, but it was too cold out. It is warm enough today to bring it outside to get proper ventilation.
I used oil based wood stain (Rustoleum Weathered Gray from Home Depot). I applied it with a 100& bristle brush (whatever that means??) also purchased at Home Depot. It was a great applicator. I've used foam brushes before that dissolve in the stain, This held up great. I wore latex gloves and went through several pairs.
I taped off the house with masking tape and protected finished surfaces with paper. I have a few places to touch up some paint along the edge of the underside of the roof, but not bad.
I also did over 100 individual shingles to use in the roof dormer addition.
It smells horrible and is definitely a good weather outside job.
This should have been done before the shingles were applied initially. I was only 17 then and there was no internet, so I had to wing it. I was afraid to mess it up, so I left them natural.
Not every outing deserves a 6 paragraph write-up. Sometimes I just grab a camera and head out to my local tracks because I'm bored on a weekend.
Sometimes I stay for a few minutes. Just enough time to catch a train or two and sometimes I'll stay for hours. This time it was only a couple hours. Oh Well..
Side Note: April 22nd 2023. Sorry I haven't been uploading for the last few months. Life has been getting in the way. I have been benching quite a lot though and have thousands of flicks from the last 5 months that I just need to sit down go through them and edit them. (Straightening, etc.)
General Electric "Garcon" model 2H08 found at an estate sale in 2014 with virtually no paint left on it.
The Garcon was made from 1937 to 1948 in four colors. White, Ivory, Red and Green. This one was found in a garage at an estate sale for $2.00
Update; New cord added 8-12-2019 and its runs almost whisper quiet. The glass bezel cleaned up nicely. The peeling Ivory colored body was wet sanded (by hand) to bare metal using 180 grit wet-dry sandpaper. The face is faded a little but had no moisture damage. The backing is a blank piece of Masonite with no company / clock information printed on it.
The body was painted with two coats of Rustoleum Canvas White paint followed by four coats of clearcoat. No restoration was done on the face or hands.
Before restoration flic.kr/p/uFevKc
Lots of stackers (Again), some grainers, and a few boxes, but also some great pieces.
Anybody ready my descriptions? I always wonder..
Finally got out of the house around noon after wavering between going out, or staying in..., to drive out to one of the local yards to shoot some freights, and finally get to check out their railroad museum. Blue skies, a little wind (7MPH) and I'm guessing like 70F. Perfect day. Sorry for anyone back East who are going through extreme cold weather. The museum was really great, and I'll have to go back and spend a bit more time looking around, and maybe taking some photos/video so you guys can check it out too. Only stayed for a couple hours today.
This yard I only have a platform that's about 15 ft. wide. The first track, the trains run about 6 in. from the edge of the track, so in order for me to catch a whole car, including autoracks, is to use a super wide angle lens. I've been using this crazy wide, $140, 7Artisans 7.5mm "Fisheye" lens when I go here. Sometimes I correct the fisheye look, sometimes I don't. I did a bit of correction on today's photos. Just cropping, straightening, and lens correction. No color. Lens is fun to use, but that fisheye!!!!!!!
They're not perfect, and you'll still see distortion... Still, caught some great pieces, and had fun, and isn't that what it's all about. Getting out of the house, away from work and seeing some great art rolling by. Any day you can go out and see some art makes your life better. Get out and bench!!! Don't just look at photos online. Go out to your local tracks/yards, and hang out for a few hours. See the cars up-close, feel them in your feet, smell the brake dust in the air, and hear how loud they actually are when you're not in your car with the windows rolled up waiting to cross at the RR crossing.
Towards the end of my visit, about 25 foamers showed up like really quickly to shoot what I found out was a "Special" train rolling through today. Something to do with next week's Super Bowl. You'll see the photos in this set, it's the three 25th Anniversary engines, stickers and all, along with 10-15 silver luxury people cars. Why three engines for only 10 or so cars?? I Dunno. I have video of this line I'll upload at some point. It really was quite amazing seeing this roll through. Like 3 minutes after it was gone, there was nobody left at the rails but PasadenaSub Colin ( www.youtube.com/c/pasadenasubcolin ) and myself..
Thanks to all of the writers. Stay safe out there, both writers, and fellow benchers.
To see my freight graffiti videos click here: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOdGrtyTsyWVhLVHkwY0_-iu8P...
It's been a month since I've been out to bench freights. I missed it. The noise, the smell, and seeing great pieces. Went out today 05-30-2021 to my local yard to watch them roll by. The yard is shared with a Metrolink station. I pulled in and there were a few cars in the parking lot, but over the course of about half a day, 10AM - 3PM, I only saw 3 other people. One was a security guard, a homeless guy, and some other guy waiting for the Metrolink train. This isn't counting workers loading unloading the trains. I had the whole platform to myself.
About half way through the day I screwed up and wasn't paying attention to shutter speeds and ended up having to delete about 30 flicks when going through them later. Blurrrry... Used the 7.5mm 7Artisans fisheye most of the day. It works great as I can shoot a whole car, even up to long autoracks from about 15 ft. away. The platform is only maybe 20 ft. wide. So I don't have a lot of room. If I back up any further I'm on the tracks on the other side and being run over by a commuter train. DOH!
Had fun, didn't have to deal with people, and saw some great pieces today.
As always, Big thanks to the writers !!
Small upload for today, only 225 flicks. Down from the close to 300 I shot, but you really didn't want to see those bad ones. :-p
So last weekend was supposed to be my catch up on work weekend and that was pushed to go out and bench for half a day. I did get some work done, but not as much as if I'd stayed home. Duh! So I thought this weekend would be all weekend, work on catching up. Ended up getting out of the house for a bit, and as always, I bring a camera. Oh look, there's a train coming!!! Pull over, get my flicks. Oh, there's another one. Next thing you know I'm meeting up with a friend, and it was a couple hours before I actually made it to the place I was originally heading out TO..
Of course, then on the way back, I see a train parked, but no place to pull over, so I head up the road to wait for it to roll past me. I wait, I wait, and while I waited, another couple trains! YES!! That one train never moved over the course of 4 hours or so. Sat on the track with the top light on, but wouldn't budge. Oh well. There's always another one coming down the tracks.
Tons of stackers this time, sorry, I get what I can get when I can get it. There's still a bunch of really cool pieces in this batch. People making the best of the space that's there.
I sometimes feel like I'll go out and come back with basically nothing to show for it. I'm constantly amazed at the cool pieces I catch. A lot of times I know some of the major things I "got" but it's not until I get home and start going through the photos that I find out what I actually "got". The trains sometimes move so fast I'm not always sure. I always find five or six awesome pieces from the day that made the whole trip worthwhile.
To all of my fellow benchers, writers, railfans, etc... Stay safe out there! Watch your back. Lots of shady people out there. Be good to each other, we're all part of this.
To see my freight graffiti slideshow videos, hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/c/SilenceSeven and please, SUBSCRIBE!!
Uploading these WAY late. Sorry. Moving to new PC after being on the same Win7-Pro machine for like 8+ years (I don't like change!), and it's been a mini-nightmare. Caught these a couple weeks ago at my local BNSF / Santa Fe yard.
====================
FYI.
These were shot with a 7.5mm fisheye lens because of the location, and poorly corrected so they look somewhat normal...
====================
Decided to head out to my local yard on a Saturday, got there at 9:30 and I was the only one out at the freight side platform. After a half hour I noticed someone down at the other end that I thought I recognized. Messaged him, and yep, it was him. My dude PasadenaSubColin.
We were both out there to just enjoy the day, me catching freights, and him freights & Metrolinks. He's a good dude to have around, as he lets me know when something cool is on its way into the yard, and I appreciate that he's all plugged into the grid to give the "heads up" when something's coming soon.
Well, this time I had, or rather found out, the "Heads Up" about 15 mins before he let me in on what would be the joke of the day. There apparently was a bicentennial engine coming through the depot today on its way to a RR museum in Perris, CA. The 5704!!!!! Big whoop.... One dude chatted me up asking if I knew when "IT" was supposed to come through. I had no idea what he was talking about and told him I don't follow trains. :-)
15-20 mins. later Colin messages me an FYI, that there's a "Special" train about to roll through. I've been in this situation before. I'm there benching graff, and all of the sudden 20 cars pull up and a bunch of "Railfans" jump out of their cars, run over, take a few photos of the "Special" car(s), engine or train, and when it's gone, they're gone. I feel like these are the people who only get out of bed when something "cool" is rolling through town. I really doubt they care about day-to-day operations of the RR. And honestly there's no way they give a shit about the graff.
Most people out at the tracks are cool, but there's a certain group of people who seem to have zero social skills when something "Special" is coming through, and we had at least one on this day. Some dude that kept walking past us, standing in my spot, like he was going to shoot from there when I got there at 9:30, and he got there at Noon. Walking past us by inches, and not saying a word, head down... Walking in front of cameras that were filming, hanging around my backpack and gear while I was like 30 feet away, just weird, un-cool shit. I'm not down with any of this. But I don't want to burn this spot as a bencher and didn't start any trouble, even though I wanted to punch this dude.. GRRR!
Will not be posting flicks of this special train car. Sorry. I saw it, I flicked it, but the whole experience was crap, and it was just one engine, big deal. I was there for the graff that you're seeing me post.
Was hot, no clouds, and at my end of the platform I had a 2ft. x 3ft. spot of slowly moving shade that was cast by one of the platform lights. After a while Colin and I were sharing this tiny moving spot of shade. No worries, we get along just fine.
BTW: PasadenaSubColin is a FOAMER!!!!!!!! ;-p
Managed to re-flick a few cars that I caught at the beginning of the month at the other end of the valley. Anyway........ I'll be back to try and ID these pieces soon. Might take me a little longer than usual as, like I said before, new computer, new crap to deal with..
Stay safe out there homies.
And..... As always, Thanks to the writers!
For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Please Subscribe to the YouTube, every little bit helps.
Went out today with one goal in mind. Leave a copy of my book, sealed in a bag next to an awesome piece of graffiti, and then come home and post a photo of the piece and if anyone knew where this piece was, they could come out and grab a free copy of the book.
Planned on leaving it by a really cool MERS piece that I've been seeing for a few years now, ended up leaving it by a newer writers piece @she.bombs she's only been at it for a short while from what I understand, but she's doing awesome work and getting up.
Found a way to climb up and leave a sealed, in a bag copy up high enough that it would take a little work to find it. Cool. On the way out, I planned on benching at one of my favorite spots for a few hours and then heading home.
Got to my spot, got out my HAM radio to listen for trains, got out my camera, and within' a few minutes some dude is walking towards me. I'm alone, and there's really nowhere I can go. As he gets closer I say "Hey, how ya' doin'?" Dude replies "I'm okay". I turn a bit so that he can easily see that I'm armed, and then I notice that he's got a plastic bag in one hand, and a rock the size of a softball in the other hand. He walks within' a couple feet of me, and once he's passed by 6 feet or so, looks back and says "It's ok to be hiking out here right?" "Yep!" I say, and he walks off.
I hear, and then see a UP train coming, which means I need to grab my shit and head to the other trestle and catch it from the other side. Lighting issues.. As I'm flicking this one, I duck down and look under the trestle and see that a BNSF freight is on the other set of tracks. GRRR. The UP ended up being like 25 cars. As I run back to my spot I see an elusive (to me) ICHABOD piece roll by... Missed it.
I catch the last 10-15 cars on the BNSF. Within' 10 minutes or so, I see another sketchy dude walking around under the trestle I was just under, and he's walking around with some sort of stick.
Seriously, I don't need this. I have bills, and I need to be at work on Monday. I left, and drove back home. I felt defeated. In the end, I did what I set out to do, and that was give away a book. ...But the freights.... They'll roll through again one day, or not.
Here is a painting I did a this past month in the tradition of Piet Mondrian's Compositions in red, blue and yellow as the primary colors.
The inspiration for this was from seeing a 24 x 36 vertical print hanging on the wall in Lisa Douglas's penthouse apartment (photo attached in the comments below) in the opening credits of the 1960's TV series, "Green Acres".
I didn't have any rectangle shaped wood so I improvised using a 12 x 12 square piece of wood , 1/4" thick.. The colors are all in the same place as what is seen on TV. The vertical colors had to be shortened accordingly to the size of wood I was working with.
Paint used was Rustoleum's Painters Touch.
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Piet Mondrian
(From Wikipedia)
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian (/ˈmɔːndriˌɑːn, ˈmɒn-/; Dutch: [ˈpit ˈmɔndrijaːn], later[ˈmɔndrijɑn]; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being one of the pioneers of 20th century abstract art, as he changed his artistic direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, until he reached a point where his artistic vocabulary was reduced to simple geometric elements.
Mondrian's art was highly utopian and was concerned with a search for universal values and aesthetics.
He proclaimed in 1914: Art is higher than reality and has no direct relation to reality. To approach the spiritual in art, one will make as little use as possible of reality, because reality is opposed to the spiritual. We find ourselves in the presence of an abstract art. Art should be above reality, otherwise it would have no value for man. His art, however, always remained rooted in nature.
He was a contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which he co-founded with Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neoplasticism. This was the new 'pure plastic art' which he believed was necessary in order to create 'universal beauty'.
To express this, Mondrian eventually decided to limit his formal vocabulary to the three primary colors (red, blue and yellow), the three primary values (black, white and gray) and the two primary directions (horizontal and vertical). Mondrian's arrival in Paris from the Netherlands in 1911 marked the beginning of a period of profound change. He encountered experiments in Cubism and with the intent of integrating himself within the Parisian avant-garde removed an 'a' from the Dutch spelling of his name (Mondriaan).
Mondrian's work had an enormous influence on 20th century art, influencing not only the course of abstract painting and numerous major styles and art movements (e.g. Color Field painting, Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism), but also fields outside the domain of painting, such as design, architecture and fashion.
Design historian Stephen Bayleysaid: 'Mondrian has come to mean Modernism. His name and his work sum up the High Modernist ideal. I don’t like the word ‘iconic’, so let’s say that he’s become totemic – a totem for everything Modernism set out to be.
Death
Piet Mondrian died of pneumonia on 1 February 1944 and was interred at the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.
On 3 February 1944 a memorial was held for Mondrian at the Universal Chapel on Lexington Avenue and 52nd Street in Manhattan. The service was attended by nearly 200 people including Alexander Archipenko, Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger, Alexander Calder and Robert Motherwell.
The Mondrian / Holtzman Trust functions as Mondrian's official estate, and "aims to promote awareness of Mondrian's artwork and to ensure the integrity of his work".
For the complete history see Wikipedia.
Sunday December 20th 2020
Out for the day to see some trains and some amazing art roll by. All of the "Fisheye" 7.5mm shots the time is off by one hour, as I forgot to change the clock on the Fujifilm X-E-3 when we "Fell" back.
Arrived about 10:15AM, pulled up to the trailhead parking lot, into the first space next to the handicaped parking space and immediately noticed that there was a cargo type van, pulled off of the blacktop, and there were a couple guys with cameras filming into the back of the van. Hmmm... When I got out of the car I noticed that there was a guy in the back of the van, tied up, and had tape accross his mouth. I figured they were filming some sort of project and asked if I should move my car as I was only one space away from where they were filming. No, you're fine. Ok, and a hiking I would go. Out to my favorite benching spot. My favorite place to go to graffiti, and have graffiti delivered to me via the rails and locally.
It doesn't take long to get to my spot, but the spot is magical. Weird rocks, desert, not to hard to get to, and trains all day...
I go out there by myself, but see tons of people rolling through on their quads, jeeps, and $20k side by sides with flags and music blaring out into the desert. Always some crappy music. Nothing that makes me feel like I'm out in the desert alone. The Jim Morrison vibes when you're out there alone are real. It can be scary, friendly, hot or cold. The desert can be inviting one minute, but when you're running low on water harsh in the next. I've been to the beach maybe a handfull of times in my life, but have been to the desert hundreds, and it's my comfort spot.
Saw a ton of amazing pieces today and captured most of them. Had fun, and didn't get bitten by anything. All in all, it was a great way to spend the day.
Turns out the people filming the guy tied up in the van were filming part of a music video. Had a nice 5 min. conversation with them and home I went to look at the treasures I'd captured.
Stay safe out there !!!!
To see my graffiti photo/video slideshows on YouTube: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Long session today (9:30AM - 5:30PM) at my least favorite spot to flick graffiti, but one of my favorite spots for the amount of traffic this spot gets. There's also a crossing here, so lots of horn action! The engineers also know "railfans" come out here so sometimes they get a little creative with the honking.
Grand total of flicks taken, 803, total being posted, 616.
Right out of the gate I fucked up big time. First train I saw go by as I arrived was an Amtrak. Got down to the spot and immediately I hear the horns coming from behind the hill. Get the camera out, lens cap off and 30 seconds later and what do I see, autoracks, and lots of them. Sweet! I get in position, and they're coming by quick. I'm just barely framing them up and snapping the flicks. Saw my first Ichabod E2E car, Green/Black. Woah dude!! Cool. (my inner SoCal surfer came out). and then it's gone.
Sat down and looked through photos on little 3 in. screen on back of camera, not good. I zoom in, but I can't tell if photos are sharp or not. Lighting seems ok, but can't tell if sharp. Go to take a quick snap of a little tag on a fence post and camera will not focus. WTH?? Camera was switched into manual focus mode from a project I was working on days previously. ARRRGH!! So out of like 30-40 autoracks, they're all blurry.
Still posting 3 of them, just to document, but I will call them out as bad photos. I was so pissed that I almost went back to the car. Glad I didn't. Throughout the day I caught some really nice pieces from some of my favorite writers. I didn't give up, and came home with gold, as you'll see going through this latest set.
FYI I managed to catch up with some of the day's last autoracks and got shots of them in way better light. So 8-10 pieces shot today have doubles that were shot in two different locations.
Also ended up meeting up with (YouTube) Railroad Fans of the Cajon Pass. He was just down the road from where I was and came down for a bit. He even brought that vicious dog "Buddy" with him. Glad I survived the encounter.
If you want to see some of these cars rolling, here's the videos he shot while I was there. If you look close or not so close in one vid, you might see me in action down the line. Anyway......
As always, thanks to the writers, fellow benchers, old, and new friends, Stay safe out there!!!
For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
I don't know if anyone ever reads my descriptions, but I write them anyway, so there!!
Was out today (August 20th 2021) on a forced vacation day, from 9:30AM til' almost 4PM. 80F today but it felt like 100F. This is a very active line and I probably flicked 20 freights today. 750+ flicks. By the time I get rid of a few duplicates, and bad ones, I'm guessing it'll be about 700 +/-. 700 to straighten, fix any color issues, upload, and also ID the writers. It's lots of time and as you can imagine, it's a lot of work, but so far it's been fun. I'm trying to not rush myself to post before I'm ready. I already have the flicks, and they're timeless. So getting them posted ASAP!!!!!! is not really my concern. Duh..
Had an interesting interaction with a guy while out there. Guy with backpack had walked back and forth across the tracks a few times. The lat time I saw him he was on the other side of a set, about 100 yards away. Next thing you know he's coming closer..... Closer..... And I'm like WTF? I'm way out here minding my own business. He walks within' like 10 ft. of me and I say "How ya' doin'?" he says something, and then says "Trains?" and I say "Yep." and he says "Oh.." and walks away. I think he was feelin' me out, as there's a small population of people who's homes are shall I say, mobile. I've talked to a few of them, and have never had a bad interaction, I just don't like people walkin' up on me when I'm trying to get away from the rest of the world out by the tracks. I go out there to get away from people, not to interact.
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I follow some other amazing photographers on flickr, but for this I will talk about the ones who flick the freights. There are a few that I really love. Some it's because of the great locations they shoot at, and others it's the amazing little details they manage to capture. For me (right now) I don't have the luxury of walking the lines and seeing pieces static. 99.999% of my flicks the freight is rolling by at 10-50 mph and sometimes I don't really even know what I have until I get home, dump the memory cards and go through the photos. Because of this, most of my flicks are just straight on shots and documenting what I saw and where. I saw this freight here, on this date, here's what was on it, and i captured it. Buffed or scraped next week, well I have it on "film" for future generations (sounds corny, I know). There are times when a freight will stop in-front of me, and I'll walk up and get some shots of monikers, but it's rare.
Obviously in any area there are sidings where freights park for extended periods, I know a few spots, but as I get older, and older, do I really want to leave my car parked on the side of the road and walk 2 miles to capture some little details I might normally miss? I'd love to, but it's just not practical for me at this time, any many other people do it better than I could. Retirement is getting closer every day, maybe then, when my weekdays are free. :-)
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During the Covid lockdown, I was working from home, and I was getting out benching like 2 & 3 times a month. Back at work, I'm lucky to have the energy to get out once a month. Every time I do manage to get out, I come home and my batteries feel re-charged. It's been so f-ing hot here in SoCal though, I can't wait for cooler weather and some clouds in the sky.
As always, thanks to the writers!
To see the rest of my freight graffiti flicks click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/siamesepuppy/collections/7215771678...
For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Morgan Otonicar, 26, of San Francisco, passed away unexpectedly in Seattle Nov. 7, 2008, surrounded and cared for by his loved ones.
Morgan was born in Seattle to Tim Otonicar of Winthrop and Kathy Drake of Seattle on Sept 15, 1982.
Morgan was the brother of Stella and Sam Otonicar of Winthrop. He was deeply in love with his girlfriend, Ashley Morris of Seattle. He was considered a brother and friend to many on both the East and West Coasts.
Morgan loved art and music. He was considered one of the most influential graffiti artists of the last decade, well known as 'Kerse' and had just embarked on a new path of filmmaking.