View allAll Photos Tagged rustoleum
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.
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...
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...
Saturday, out on a beer run, brought the camera and ran out to one of my spots, flicked one train. I waited for another further down the line, but it was taking forever, and it was hot so I drove back home.
BUT!! It actually turned out kinda' cool, because I caught a bunch of railroad equipment on its way to repair some tracks down the line. To be dropped off somewhere in the middle of the desert, where guys in orange or green vests' in hard hats with clipboards will point at other guys to "Get to work!" and yell incoherent instructions. Was happy to see this equipment roll by on a Saturday to reminds me that I had one more day off before going back to work.
As always, thanks to the Writers, my fellow Benchers and Railroad Workers across the globe. You're all doing good work!
Stay safe out there guys!!
For freight graffiti slideshows/videos hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Instagram here: @soilentseven
SoCalFreights.com
irregularphotos.com
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
Arrived at my spot around 10:30AM, left at 6:10PM.
A little over 80F. and a light breeze. Perfect weather for hanging out for a few hours. There were a couple cars there, but I didn't see any people besides one guy who kept getting in/out of his Jeep. Okay, whatever.
10 minutes after getting there I heard the first train coming around the bend, and what a train it was, couple engines, and 78 autoracks in a row! What a way to start of my day.
15-20 minutes after I got to the spot, I messaged my friend Keith @railfanscajonpass that I was out there, he said he was on his way, he got there an hour or so later. By that time I'd already flicked 7-8 trains. One of the busiest days I've had in a long time. They just kept coming up and down the hill. I had planned to hike up the hill to look for a couple other spots to shoot from, but the trains just kept coming.
There's also some great under the bridges graff out at this spot, and I just didn't have time to hike over to it and flick it. There's also a spot close by that the RR stores ties, track, and equipment, I wanted to get some shots of that, again, no time.
Anyway, RRfans,(Keith) & Buddy hung out for another 5-6 hours until the sun dipped behind the mountains at about 6:00pm, and it was starting to get dark. Spent the day waiting, and listening for the engines chugging up the hill, or the horns blaring in the distance so we could finally jump up and do what we were both there to do. Him to film the trains and give his commentary, and me to get my flicks. He's a good dude to hang out with, good conversation, talk about life, problems, trains, etc.. Time just goes by so quick until the next train and we both get to work.
Saw lots of trucks, motorcycles, and loads of Jeeps drive through to go out exploring the local trails only to leave within' 20 minutes or so. There's miles and miles of trails out there, but it seems people get bored fast...
Had a great time, saw pieces from some of my favorite writers, and some writers I talk to occasionally.
It was a great day, and day I really needed personally, I've had a rough last few weeks, and I haven't been trackside in over a month. It was great to get out to the familiar sounds and smells of being out there next to the trains.
Backgrounds at this location are kind of boring, but the amount of freights and great pieces that come through here is crazy.
================
If you can, pick up a copy of my first photo book: SoCal Freight Benching: Graffiti on Freight Trains - Vol.1 Here: smile.amazon.com/SoCal-Freight-Benching-Graffiti-Trains/d...
Every little bit helps. Thanks!!
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!!
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/
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...
wood masked off and raised areas painted with rustoleum hammered. Also primered things in gray but didn't get a shot of that
wood masked off and raised areas painted with rustoleum hammered. Also primered things in gray but didn't get a shot of that
Arrived at my spot around 10:30AM, left at 6:10PM.
A little over 80F. and a light breeze. Perfect weather for hanging out for a few hours. There were a couple cars there, but I didn't see any people besides one guy who kept getting in/out of his Jeep. Okay, whatever.
10 minutes after getting there I heard the first train coming around the bend, and what a train it was, couple engines, and 78 autoracks in a row! What a way to start of my day.
15-20 minutes after I got to the spot, I messaged my friend Keith @railfanscajonpass that I was out there, he said he was on his way, he got there an hour or so later. By that time I'd already flicked 7-8 trains. One of the busiest days I've had in a long time. They just kept coming up and down the hill. I had planned to hike up the hill to look for a couple other spots to shoot from, but the trains just kept coming.
There's also some great under the bridges graff out at this spot, and I just didn't have time to hike over to it and flick it. There's also a spot close by that the RR stores ties, track, and equipment, I wanted to get some shots of that, again, no time.
Anyway, RRfans,(Keith) & Buddy hung out for another 5-6 hours until the sun dipped behind the mountains at about 6:00pm, and it was starting to get dark. Spent the day waiting, and listening for the engines chugging up the hill, or the horns blaring in the distance so we could finally jump up and do what we were both there to do. Him to film the trains and give his commentary, and me to get my flicks. He's a good dude to hang out with, good conversation, talk about life, problems, trains, etc.. Time just goes by so quick until the next train and we both get to work.
Saw lots of trucks, motorcycles, and loads of Jeeps drive through to go out exploring the local trails only to leave within' 20 minutes or so. There's miles and miles of trails out there, but it seems people get bored fast...
Had a great time, saw pieces from some of my favorite writers, and some writers I talk to occasionally.
It was a great day, and day I really needed personally, I've had a rough last few weeks, and I haven't been trackside in over a month. It was great to get out to the familiar sounds and smells of being out there next to the trains.
Backgrounds at this location are kind of boring, but the amount of freights and great pieces that come through here is crazy.
================
If you can, pick up a copy of my first photo book: SoCal Freight Benching: Graffiti on Freight Trains - Vol.1 Here: smile.amazon.com/SoCal-Freight-Benching-Graffiti-Trains/d...
Every little bit helps. Thanks!!
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.
Arrived at my spot around 10:30AM, left at 6:10PM.
A little over 80F. and a light breeze. Perfect weather for hanging out for a few hours. There were a couple cars there, but I didn't see any people besides one guy who kept getting in/out of his Jeep. Okay, whatever.
10 minutes after getting there I heard the first train coming around the bend, and what a train it was, couple engines, and 78 autoracks in a row! What a way to start of my day.
15-20 minutes after I got to the spot, I messaged my friend Keith @railfanscajonpass that I was out there, he said he was on his way, he got there an hour or so later. By that time I'd already flicked 7-8 trains. One of the busiest days I've had in a long time. They just kept coming up and down the hill. I had planned to hike up the hill to look for a couple other spots to shoot from, but the trains just kept coming.
There's also some great under the bridges graff out at this spot, and I just didn't have time to hike over to it and flick it. There's also a spot close by that the RR stores ties, track, and equipment, I wanted to get some shots of that, again, no time.
Anyway, RRfans,(Keith) & Buddy hung out for another 5-6 hours until the sun dipped behind the mountains at about 6:00pm, and it was starting to get dark. Spent the day waiting, and listening for the engines chugging up the hill, or the horns blaring in the distance so we could finally jump up and do what we were both there to do. Him to film the trains and give his commentary, and me to get my flicks. He's a good dude to hang out with, good conversation, talk about life, problems, trains, etc.. Time just goes by so quick until the next train and we both get to work.
Saw lots of trucks, motorcycles, and loads of Jeeps drive through to go out exploring the local trails only to leave within' 20 minutes or so. There's miles and miles of trails out there, but it seems people get bored fast...
Had a great time, saw pieces from some of my favorite writers, and some writers I talk to occasionally.
It was a great day, and day I really needed personally, I've had a rough last few weeks, and I haven't been trackside in over a month. It was great to get out to the familiar sounds and smells of being out there next to the trains.
Backgrounds at this location are kind of boring, but the amount of freights and great pieces that come through here is crazy.
================
If you can, pick up a copy of my first photo book: SoCal Freight Benching: Graffiti on Freight Trains - Vol.1 Here: smile.amazon.com/SoCal-Freight-Benching-Graffiti-Trains/d...
Every little bit helps. Thanks!!
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
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
Arrived at my spot around 10:30AM, left at 6:10PM.
A little over 80F. and a light breeze. Perfect weather for hanging out for a few hours. There were a couple cars there, but I didn't see any people besides one guy who kept getting in/out of his Jeep. Okay, whatever.
10 minutes after getting there I heard the first train coming around the bend, and what a train it was, couple engines, and 78 autoracks in a row! What a way to start of my day.
15-20 minutes after I got to the spot, I messaged my friend Keith @railfanscajonpass that I was out there, he said he was on his way, he got there an hour or so later. By that time I'd already flicked 7-8 trains. One of the busiest days I've had in a long time. They just kept coming up and down the hill. I had planned to hike up the hill to look for a couple other spots to shoot from, but the trains just kept coming.
There's also some great under the bridges graff out at this spot, and I just didn't have time to hike over to it and flick it. There's also a spot close by that the RR stores ties, track, and equipment, I wanted to get some shots of that, again, no time.
Anyway, RRfans,(Keith) & Buddy hung out for another 5-6 hours until the sun dipped behind the mountains at about 6:00pm, and it was starting to get dark. Spent the day waiting, and listening for the engines chugging up the hill, or the horns blaring in the distance so we could finally jump up and do what we were both there to do. Him to film the trains and give his commentary, and me to get my flicks. He's a good dude to hang out with, good conversation, talk about life, problems, trains, etc.. Time just goes by so quick until the next train and we both get to work.
Saw lots of trucks, motorcycles, and loads of Jeeps drive through to go out exploring the local trails only to leave within' 20 minutes or so. There's miles and miles of trails out there, but it seems people get bored fast...
Had a great time, saw pieces from some of my favorite writers, and some writers I talk to occasionally.
It was a great day, and day I really needed personally, I've had a rough last few weeks, and I haven't been trackside in over a month. It was great to get out to the familiar sounds and smells of being out there next to the trains.
Backgrounds at this location are kind of boring, but the amount of freights and great pieces that come through here is crazy.
================
If you can, pick up a copy of my first photo book: SoCal Freight Benching: Graffiti on Freight Trains - Vol.1 Here: smile.amazon.com/SoCal-Freight-Benching-Graffiti-Trains/d...
Every little bit helps. Thanks!!
Decided to go out Saturday because the weather was supposed to be cooler, and cloudy. Well it was cooler 85f. But zero clouds. I swear I'm going to move to a state that has clouds.
Got to my first spot, and found out they have now fenced the entrance path to the spot. A GIANT field with a path leading to my spot is not completely fenced. forcing me to walk about an mile out of my way to get to the spot. Yeah, I could have easily jumped the fence, walked through and jumped the next fence. There was so much traffic in the area I could just walk around. I need the exercise anyway.
The long walk to my spot took me pretty close to one of my favorite bridge spots, so I decided to hike up a bit and see what was new. A few new pieces and a few old favorites that were still there, un-touched. Those are in today's upload as well.
Got to my spot finally. This spot has a homeless "issue" but I've had nothing but pleasant interactions with anyone who's approached me. Mostly I think they are just curious what I'm doing out there for 5-6 hours standing around in one spot. As soon as I say "the trains.." they always go "oh, cool." So every time I go there I always take inventory of all of the people who are out there so I know where to keep an eye out. Got there at like 10:15AM and I see a guy coming out from under a tree about 200' away. Moving slow, and carrying a box. Moving the box from one place to another, then another box, etc. I'm not worried about this person.
About an hour into my session, I see a guy walking along in the wash below.. Looks about 60-65, with no shirt, and is about as tan as you can get. This guy has obviously been in the desert sun for a while. After a couple of minutes he gets to me, throws out his hand and introduces himself as "Jeff". Asks how I'm doing and what I'm doing out there. I said "the trains" and he nods. Says he's headed up to the gas station down the tracks and up the road, and asks if I want him to bring me something to drink. "nah, I'm good", "OK, see ya'" Oh, forgot to mention, Jeff had a fixed blade knife about 12" long strapped to the front of his belt. I also carry a knife when I go out, just in-case so I understood his carrying of a knife and seeing it didn't faze me.
Spent about 4 hours at that spot, and hit up another spot on the way home and flicked some other amazing pieces.
Was a great day out, and I had fun. Isn't that what it's all about!!? I even managed to flick some pieces from some of my favorite writes I haven't seen before!
Also witnessed a procession of like 100 Honda Groms and other motorcycles rolling by: youtu.be/H4uLI_EupHU
Thanks to all of the writers and fellow benchers. Stay safe out there. Look both ways before crossing!!
Be sure to hit up my YouTube channel for freight graff videos: www.youtube.com/c/SilenceSeven
Also Instagram for graff related fun: www.instagram.com/soilentseven
As usual, I'll be by in a few days to start #tagging pieces that that I recognise or can figure out. If you spot any errors, just let me know.
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...
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...
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
[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/...
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.
======================
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. :-)
======================
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
Decided to go out Saturday because the weather was supposed to be cooler, and cloudy. Well it was cooler 85f. But zero clouds. I swear I'm going to move to a state that has clouds.
Got to my first spot, and found out they have now fenced the entrance path to the spot. A GIANT field with a path leading to my spot is not completely fenced. forcing me to walk about an mile out of my way to get to the spot. Yeah, I could have easily jumped the fence, walked through and jumped the next fence. There was so much traffic in the area I could just walk around. I need the exercise anyway.
The long walk to my spot took me pretty close to one of my favorite bridge spots, so I decided to hike up a bit and see what was new. A few new pieces and a few old favorites that were still there, un-touched. Those are in today's upload as well.
Got to my spot finally. This spot has a homeless "issue" but I've had nothing but pleasant interactions with anyone who's approached me. Mostly I think they are just curious what I'm doing out there for 5-6 hours standing around in one spot. As soon as I say "the trains.." they always go "oh, cool." So every time I go there I always take inventory of all of the people who are out there so I know where to keep an eye out. Got there at like 10:15AM and I see a guy coming out from under a tree about 200' away. Moving slow, and carrying a box. Moving the box from one place to another, then another box, etc. I'm not worried about this person.
About an hour into my session, I see a guy walking along in the wash below.. Looks about 60-65, with no shirt, and is about as tan as you can get. This guy has obviously been in the desert sun for a while. After a couple of minutes he gets to me, throws out his hand and introduces himself as "Jeff". Asks how I'm doing and what I'm doing out there. I said "the trains" and he nods. Says he's headed up to the gas station down the tracks and up the road, and asks if I want him to bring me something to drink. "nah, I'm good", "OK, see ya'" Oh, forgot to mention, Jeff had a fixed blade knife about 12" long strapped to the front of his belt. I also carry a knife when I go out, just in-case so I understood his carrying of a knife and seeing it didn't faze me.
Spent about 4 hours at that spot, and hit up another spot on the way home and flicked some other amazing pieces.
Was a great day out, and I had fun. Isn't that what it's all about!!? I even managed to flick some pieces from some of my favorite writes I haven't seen before!
Also witnessed a procession of like 100 Honda Groms and other motorcycles rolling by: youtu.be/H4uLI_EupHU
Thanks to all of the writers and fellow benchers. Stay safe out there. Look both ways before crossing!!
Be sure to hit up my YouTube channel for freight graff videos: www.youtube.com/c/SilenceSeven
Also Instagram for graff related fun: www.instagram.com/soilentseven
As usual, I'll be by in a few days to start #tagging pieces that that I recognise or can figure out. If you spot any errors, just let me know.
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
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
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/
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/
Out today benching freights at one of my spots. Wanted to go Saturday, rained all day. No rain on Sunday and it looked like the sun was going to come out. NOPE. It got down to 44 degrees Fahrenheit. All I had was a thin Dickies jacket. My hands were cold, my feet were freezing, it was pretty bad. Yeah, I know 44F. isn't all that cold. Well here in California 44 is pretty damn low.
Was there for about an hour or so before security rolled up on the other side of 3 sets of tracks with roof lights flashing. Turned his truck to face me. I sat down and ignored him. I looked over again and he was gone. 30 mins. later here he comes rolling up on me on the same side of the tracks I was on. I was sure he was going to hassle me. He just wanted to know what I was doing out there. Told me to stay safe, and left...
Finished up my day frozen and shivering could barely feel my toes. Walked back to the car. Just as I got to the car I could hear another train coming. Seems like this always happens. Looked over as about 10-15 cars passed by. Oh well. Got in the car and headed down the road, and realized, I can beat this train to another spot where I could catch some flicks. So I did..
Stay safe out there friends !!!
For freight graff slideshows: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
I think it will be a while before I go out to this spot again. It's a great spot, every time I've gone, 2-3x, there's always been other "Train people" there. That's not the issue. The way the tracks are laid out, if I want to be able to flick graff on all of the tracks, not facing the sun, it's going to be a lot of running.
I don't know how many of you follow me and also bench, but if you do, you'll understand that there's great spots, there's good spots, and then there's difficult spots. All of them can have lots of action, but some spots are WAY better than others for getting flicks. This is one of those spots where it's super chill, other train people there, but getting flicks of graff is difficult for me. We get a lot of stackers, and if shooting with the sun, the tracks are progressively lower.... Hard to explain, but this is a great spot, just not easy. I'll visit again in the coming months and see if I can get it to work for me, but as it is right now, I like to go there, I don't like to get flicks there.
Fun Story: I drove down in-between the tracks today for the first time. Everything was fine. Most people stop to watch the trains from the access road above. Probably 25ft. higher and 50ft. from the closest track. Whatever.
I'm there for maybe an hour at this point, lots of cars and trucks coming and going. One stops, some small SUV thing. Father/Son. Son about 12-14yrs. I'm about 40 yards away, but down the hill from them, and I can clearly hear everything they are talking about. Father seems very supportive of the son's interest in trains. Cool ! First train (for them) starts down the tracks and I hear a train whistle, but it's not from a train, it's from the kid. He's got one of those wooden train whistles and he starts blowing it when he sees the train.
Gave me a smile. I could clearly her the kid talking about the UP, and then the BNSF, etc etc.. Kid seemed to know his stuff. We had one NS train come through and he spotted it from a mile away. The kid filmed every train that came through while they were there, and the father was telling him something about his intro's on YouTube, so I'm sure he's a YouTuber. I really wanted to go up and talk to them before they left and see if they were from around here or not. If not, I have some fun spots they might want to check, but they left before I could.
Getting ready to leave after only a couple hours and I can see there's some graff on one of the small train bridges. Decided to check it out before leaving. F-ing cool spot. Lots of writer's monikers, and quite a few larger pieces. Had a lot of fun trudging through the weeds, and the small stream to catch some flicks of all the goodies under and around the bridges. If I go back there, it will be to check out the bridge graff.
As always, Had fun, and saw some cool pieces.
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...
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
Went out for the day at my local freight/Metrolink yard to meet up once again with "Pasadena Sub Colin" to drop off a couple graff books. He's
like a ghost. He seems to just show up out of nowhere, but this time we arranged that we would be there at the same time.
Thought about not staying and getting more flicks, because I've got a huge backlog, but damn, the weather was so great, and there were actually clouds in the sky and a little breeze. The kind of days I dream about when I'm out in the desert half-way through summer and it's 109 F., dry, dusty, not a cloud in the sky, and shade is hard to find.
Clouds in the sky in California mean one of two things, it's about to rain, or it just rained. So to have some clouds was great. If you look through my flicks, No clouds. I don't like it, but I get my flicks when/where I can.
Clouds, also double edged sword. The sun couldn't decide.... Well, actually the clouds couldn't decide if they wanted to let the sun shine through, or hide it. As a photographer this makes it challenging to photograph a moving train. It's either dark, or super bright. Oh well.
Well trains are slow?! Ignore the internet for a few minutes of your day and go to the tracks. Stand about 10 ft. from the tracks, try to capture a whole car in one photo as they roll by at 20-40 Mph. They might look slow from far away, but get up close and you can feel the wind coming off of the cars as they pass by. I use a super wide lens at this location. 7.5 mm "fisheye" lens, so I can be very close, and still get a whole autorack in the shot. I'm always amazed at all of those shots from the past shot on film cameras that look great. Me here in 2022 with a digital
camera complaining like a little girl.
Sorry, As usual, it will take me a few days or a week to come back and ID/tag all of the writers in my flicks. I'm old/tired, and I have a hard time IDing some pieces. No offense to anyone, but I do the best I can. If you can or want to correct me, COMMENT!!!!
As always, Thanks to all the writers, and also my fellow benchers. Stay safe out there you guys and dolls.
Much love to the graff community. I've made a lot of friends, and some new family.
Colin's pages:
www.youtube.com/c/pasadenasubcolin
www.instagram.com/pasadenasub_colin/
To see all of my frieght flicks, check my flicker page here: irregularphotos.com
I took all the cabinet pulls off and found quite a few 'new' ones at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Using black Rustoleum spray paint, I painted them all. The mismatched look is cute and kind of kitschy. I like it.
As always, thanks to the writers!
Finally got out for a day of benching in the desert. Was out from 9:15AM til' after 5:30PM. About 20 freights. Could have been more, but the other tracks are so far away from the main two I'd have to run across the desert to catch them. I can see them, but they're like 1/4 mile away.
Day started out cold, then got hot, by the end of the day there was like a 40mph wind, and I was freezing for the last 3 hours.
Saw some toy out there spraying under the bridge with his girlfriend and some other dude, quick throw up for anyone else took him like 20 minutes to finally finish. Funny.
Had a great time just being away from home, and away from anyone else. Just me, my thoughts, a couple cameras and some snacks.
To see the rest of my freight graffiti flicks click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/siamesepuppy/collections/7215771678...
For freight graffiti slideshows hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Headed out today at about 11AM. I could take the freeway to this spot, but it's a curvy scenic drive and most of the way there I can look over to my left and see the train tracks up against the side of the mountain, and sometimes cruise along with a train chugging up or down the mountain in my peripheral vision.
Arrived a little before 11:30AM. the sun was out and there was a little breeze. I want to say it was close to 70F. when I arrived, but it was probably cooler, and I didn't have a jacket and I regretted it later as the sun kept going behind the clouds and the breeze kept turning into "wind chill". Every time it got too cold for me to stay, the sun would come back out.
I seemed to be the only one up there on a rare, for me, Monday off. Some BNSF workers had trucks about a half mile down the road from me, and over the course of the day I ended up seeing them come and go a few times doing what they do to maintain the tracks.
Started off the day with one train I think and then I wanted to head over to the bridges to hide a copy of my book for someone to find. I wandered around under the bridges for 20 minutes or so, caught a few new pieces there, figured out a nice dry spot to leave a copy of the book and headed back up to the surface. Like a Morlock coming to the surface to snatch an Eloi.
This spot is pretty "railfan" friendly and I saw some people come and film trains, which seemed weird for a Monday, but.. I was out there.
Wandered down to the other end of this massive flat area next to the tracks and got some photos of the stacks of rails, ties, and other railroad related stuff that BNSF takes out of commission, and just seems to stack here out of the way.
Left at 5PM.
Got out of the house, caught some great pieces today and had some fun. Nothin' wrong with that!
Side Note: Sorry about the lack of freight uploads, work, life, and working on another book is keeping me busy.
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...
Wasn't going to upload these for a couple days, but had a slightly disturbing conversation with my Father tonight about a previous neighbors immanent demise, and I realized that I may not live forever, so here you go.
Last day of the first month of 2021. Got out to the depot/yard at 10AM. Beautiful weather. The night before I'd invited my Nephew to come out benching with me. He'd never been out and I'm sure didn't know what to expect.
Well, I brought him to the yard because I thought it would at the minimum be interesting to him watching the crane operators loading the containers on the cars. Well, when I got there the nearest tracks were loaded with freights blocking most of the view, and half of the cranes weren't operating anyway. Didn't really bother me because as an active bencher I'm used to waiting for something interesting to happen.
I apologized and assured him that "Any minute" a freight could roll through with some amazing pieces on it. And 3 or 4 did while he was there. I shot my flicks and talked to him about what he saw. Said he saw some really cool pieces and even mentioned some hand re-painted numbers on the cars. Somehow he already knew that the writers shouldn't be covering the numbers. He knows zero about graff, and understood this. How is it that so many writers don't understand this?? I'm not sure the Nephews' a fan of graff. I really haven't talked to him about it much. He did ask me how people didn't get caught, or in trouble for doing it. I tried to explain layups, people sneaking into yards etc. And to his credit, he never sounded judgmental. He just had questions.
Anyway.. Had a fun time, and shot some nice pieces. I used the same 7.5mm lens I've used there before but used a Lightroom lens correction to flatten the images so they don't have the fisheye effect. Not sure which I like better, flat or fisheye. Both have their appeal.. The furthest I can stand from a freight on the first rail is about 15ft. so the ultra wide angle is necessary. I can get a whole autorack in one shot. It's actually pretty cool.
As always, thanks to all of the writers!
For freight graffiti slideshows hit up my YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/SilenceSeven
Headed out today at about 11AM. I could take the freeway to this spot, but it's a curvy scenic drive and most of the way there I can look over to my left and see the train tracks up against the side of the mountain, and sometimes cruise along with a train chugging up or down the mountain in my peripheral vision.
Arrived a little before 11:30AM. the sun was out and there was a little breeze. I want to say it was close to 70F. when I arrived, but it was probably cooler, and I didn't have a jacket and I regretted it later as the sun kept going behind the clouds and the breeze kept turning into "wind chill". Every time it got too cold for me to stay, the sun would come back out.
I seemed to be the only one up there on a rare, for me, Monday off. Some BNSF workers had trucks about a half mile down the road from me, and over the course of the day I ended up seeing them come and go a few times doing what they do to maintain the tracks.
Started off the day with one train I think and then I wanted to head over to the bridges to hide a copy of my book for someone to find. I wandered around under the bridges for 20 minutes or so, caught a few new pieces there, figured out a nice dry spot to leave a copy of the book and headed back up to the surface. Like a Morlock coming to the surface to snatch an Eloi.
This spot is pretty "railfan" friendly and I saw some people come and film trains, which seemed weird for a Monday, but.. I was out there.
Wandered down to the other end of this massive flat area next to the tracks and got some photos of the stacks of rails, ties, and other railroad related stuff that BNSF takes out of commission, and just seems to stack here out of the way.
Left at 5PM.
Got out of the house, caught some great pieces today and had some fun. Nothin' wrong with that!
Side Note: Sorry about the lack of freight uploads, work, life, and working on another book is keeping me busy.
I think it will be a while before I go out to this spot again. It's a great spot, every time I've gone, 2-3x, there's always been other "Train people" there. That's not the issue. The way the tracks are laid out, if I want to be able to flick graff on all of the tracks, not facing the sun, it's going to be a lot of running.
I don't know how many of you follow me and also bench, but if you do, you'll understand that there's great spots, there's good spots, and then there's difficult spots. All of them can have lots of action, but some spots are WAY better than others for getting flicks. This is one of those spots where it's super chill, other train people there, but getting flicks of graff is difficult for me. We get a lot of stackers, and if shooting with the sun, the tracks are progressively lower.... Hard to explain, but this is a great spot, just not easy. I'll visit again in the coming months and see if I can get it to work for me, but as it is right now, I like to go there, I don't like to get flicks there.
Fun Story: I drove down in-between the tracks today for the first time. Everything was fine. Most people stop to watch the trains from the access road above. Probably 25ft. higher and 50ft. from the closest track. Whatever.
I'm there for maybe an hour at this point, lots of cars and trucks coming and going. One stops, some small SUV thing. Father/Son. Son about 12-14yrs. I'm about 40 yards away, but down the hill from them, and I can clearly hear everything they are talking about. Father seems very supportive of the son's interest in trains. Cool ! First train (for them) starts down the tracks and I hear a train whistle, but it's not from a train, it's from the kid. He's got one of those wooden train whistles and he starts blowing it when he sees the train.
Gave me a smile. I could clearly her the kid talking about the UP, and then the BNSF, etc etc.. Kid seemed to know his stuff. We had one NS train come through and he spotted it from a mile away. The kid filmed every train that came through while they were there, and the father was telling him something about his intro's on YouTube, so I'm sure he's a YouTuber. I really wanted to go up and talk to them before they left and see if they were from around here or not. If not, I have some fun spots they might want to check, but they left before I could.
Getting ready to leave after only a couple hours and I can see there's some graff on one of the small train bridges. Decided to check it out before leaving. F-ing cool spot. Lots of writer's monikers, and quite a few larger pieces. Had a lot of fun trudging through the weeds, and the small stream to catch some flicks of all the goodies under and around the bridges. If I go back there, it will be to check out the bridge graff.
As always, Had fun, and saw some cool pieces.
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...
Arrived at my spot around 10:30AM, left at 6:10PM.
A little over 80F. and a light breeze. Perfect weather for hanging out for a few hours. There were a couple cars there, but I didn't see any people besides one guy who kept getting in/out of his Jeep. Okay, whatever.
10 minutes after getting there I heard the first train coming around the bend, and what a train it was, couple engines, and 78 autoracks in a row! What a way to start of my day.
15-20 minutes after I got to the spot, I messaged my friend Keith @railfanscajonpass that I was out there, he said he was on his way, he got there an hour or so later. By that time I'd already flicked 7-8 trains. One of the busiest days I've had in a long time. They just kept coming up and down the hill. I had planned to hike up the hill to look for a couple other spots to shoot from, but the trains just kept coming.
There's also some great under the bridges graff out at this spot, and I just didn't have time to hike over to it and flick it. There's also a spot close by that the RR stores ties, track, and equipment, I wanted to get some shots of that, again, no time.
Anyway, RRfans,(Keith) & Buddy hung out for another 5-6 hours until the sun dipped behind the mountains at about 6:00pm, and it was starting to get dark. Spent the day waiting, and listening for the engines chugging up the hill, or the horns blaring in the distance so we could finally jump up and do what we were both there to do. Him to film the trains and give his commentary, and me to get my flicks. He's a good dude to hang out with, good conversation, talk about life, problems, trains, etc.. Time just goes by so quick until the next train and we both get to work.
Saw lots of trucks, motorcycles, and loads of Jeeps drive through to go out exploring the local trails only to leave within' 20 minutes or so. There's miles and miles of trails out there, but it seems people get bored fast...
Had a great time, saw pieces from some of my favorite writers, and some writers I talk to occasionally.
It was a great day, and day I really needed personally, I've had a rough last few weeks, and I haven't been trackside in over a month. It was great to get out to the familiar sounds and smells of being out there next to the trains.
Backgrounds at this location are kind of boring, but the amount of freights and great pieces that come through here is crazy.
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If you can, pick up a copy of my first photo book: SoCal Freight Benching: Graffiti on Freight Trains - Vol.1 Here: smile.amazon.com/SoCal-Freight-Benching-Graffiti-Trains/d...
Every little bit helps. Thanks!!
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...