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...

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...

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...

Drove all the way out to a spot I used to go to watch trains years ago. (like 25 years ago) There was a little restaurant next to the tracks that had burgers, tacos, and beer. We'd go up there and order our tacos and a pitcher of beer and sit outside on the patio on the benches, and bench railcars going by looking for cool graffiti. There were five rails that converged in this one spot, so trains were coming through about once every 5-10 minutes. I never brought a camera and never really even thought about taking photos of the graffiti. That place was torn down years ago to build a bridge, and it's a lot harder to access that location now and there were railroad workers on that side working. I ended up on the other side of the tracks and waited for over 2 hours, and NO TRAINS. WTF? So I ended up heading the other direction and finding some cars parked. By the time I shot those cars, I saw the lights of a train coming from the other direction, sped up there go out and grabbed some shots of one on the move.

Today I brought out two cameras and two lenses. Fujifilm X-E3, and Fujifilm X-Pro1. Two lenses. 23mm Fuji f/2, and an old Helios 58mm F/2 with m42 to X-mount adapter. Shot a few with the 58mm, but it was just too long. Most of today's shots were with the 23mm on either the Fuji bodies.

Had Fun.

R.I.P. FUNGI

old.reddit.com/r/Graffiti/comments/p70unh/mt_baldy_los_an...

There was an extra day this year! 2-29-2020!

Left the house today and it was warm and nice out. By the time I got to my spot it was windy, cloudy and cold, and me without a jacket. Had my spot pretty much alone for the 4-5 hours I was there. A few trucks drove through etc.. With the wind I had a hard time telling when a freight was coming as I couldn't hear them. I can usually hear the whistle from either above or below my spot, so I know which way they're coming from. Still don't know on which track.

There's 4 tracks, 3 close by and one much further down the hill. If I stay towards the middle between rails 2-3, and 1, I can move back and forth pretty quickly, they're about 1/4 mile apart. But certain times of the day I'm going to be shooting one rail or the other into the sun unless I run, and I'll be running in desert sand. Not as easy as it would seem. So some shots I do my best to edit in post so the backlighting isn't f-ing up my shots.

Anyway, as always, I saw some cool pieces today, got out of the house, and had some fun.

Thanks to all the writers, keep doin' what you do!!

Drove all the way out to a spot I used to go to watch trains years ago. (like 25 years ago) There was a little restaurant next to the tracks that had burgers, tacos, and beer. We'd go up there and order our tacos and a pitcher of beer and sit outside on the patio on the benches, and bench railcars going by looking for cool graffiti. There were five rails that converged in this one spot, so trains were coming through about once every 5-10 minutes. I never brought a camera and never really even thought about taking photos of the graffiti. That place was torn down years ago to build a bridge, and it's a lot harder to access that location now and there were railroad workers on that side working. I ended up on the other side of the tracks and waited for over 2 hours, and NO TRAINS. WTF? So I ended up heading the other direction and finding some cars parked. By the time I shot those cars, I saw the lights of a train coming from the other direction, sped up there go out and grabbed some shots of one on the move.

Today I brought out two cameras and two lenses. Fujifilm X-E3, and Fujifilm X-Pro1. Two lenses. 23mm Fuji f/2, and an old Helios 58mm F/2 with m42 to X-mount adapter. Shot a few with the 58mm, but it was just too long. Most of today's shots were with the 23mm on either the Fuji bodies.

Had Fun.

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

RUSTOLEUM

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

Three tracks running today. There were times when there were two trains on two different tracks in different directions, and I had to keep looking back and forth so I wouldn't miss an amazing piece rolling by behind my back.. A little sketchy today

as someone thought is would be a good idea to be out shooting today. Not with a camera, but a gun. I couldn't figure out where they were, but it was close.

Also, some sort of instagram photo shoot going on under one of the train trestles. Obviously with the graffiti in the background. :-)

Full set of 2012 Welling Court Street Shots here:

www.flickr.com/photos/jimkiernan/sets/72157630217876858/

Over 60 Artists from around the world came and hit the spot!

Wendy has picked a color palette which matches the desert colors

around us. The tub got a coat of purple rustoleum paint this morning.

Drove all the way out to a spot I used to go to watch trains years ago. (like 25 years ago) There was a little restaurant next to the tracks that had burgers, tacos, and beer. We'd go up there and order our tacos and a pitcher of beer and sit outside on the patio on the benches, and bench railcars going by looking for cool graffiti. There were five rails that converged in this one spot, so trains were coming through about once every 5-10 minutes. I never brought a camera and never really even thought about taking photos of the graffiti. That place was torn down years ago to build a bridge, and it's a lot harder to access that location now and there were railroad workers on that side working. I ended up on the other side of the tracks and waited for over 2 hours, and NO TRAINS. WTF? So I ended up heading the other direction and finding some cars parked. By the time I shot those cars, I saw the lights of a train coming from the other direction, sped up there go out and grabbed some shots of one on the move.

Today I brought out two cameras and two lenses. Fujifilm X-E3, and Fujifilm X-Pro1. Two lenses. 23mm Fuji f/2, and an old Helios 58mm F/2 with m42 to X-mount adapter. Shot a few with the 58mm, but it was just too long. Most of today's shots were with the 23mm on either the Fuji bodies.

Had Fun.

A fresh coat of Rust-Oleum Epoxy Shield on the garage floor. I chose gray with blue/black/white chips.

Drove all the way out to a spot I used to go to watch trains years ago. (like 25 years ago) There was a little restaurant next to the tracks that had burgers, tacos, and beer. We'd go up there and order our tacos and a pitcher of beer and sit outside on the patio on the benches, and bench railcars going by looking for cool graffiti. There were five rails that converged in this one spot, so trains were coming through about once every 5-10 minutes. I never brought a camera and never really even thought about taking photos of the graffiti. That place was torn down years ago to build a bridge, and it's a lot harder to access that location now and there were railroad workers on that side working. I ended up on the other side of the tracks and waited for over 2 hours, and NO TRAINS. WTF? So I ended up heading the other direction and finding some cars parked. By the time I shot those cars, I saw the lights of a train coming from the other direction, sped up there go out and grabbed some shots of one on the move.

Today I brought out two cameras and two lenses. Fujifilm X-E3, and Fujifilm X-Pro1. Two lenses. 23mm Fuji f/2, and an old Helios 58mm F/2 with m42 to X-mount adapter. Shot a few with the 58mm, but it was just too long. Most of today's shots were with the 23mm on either the Fuji bodies.

Had Fun.

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

Specifically, Rustoleum Satin Blossom White

Probably one of the freshest colors rusto ever made.

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...

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

world class singer

It's no longer rust, but it's not flashy either. Rustoleum hammered bronze spray paint.

got another paint in, freestyled, screwed up quite a bit, but i think im improvin....

needa go hit a better spot where i can get looose....not much room here...wanna make my letters taller...

Three tracks running today. There were times when there were two trains on two different tracks in different directions, and I had to keep looking back and forth so I wouldn't miss an amazing piece rolling by behind my back.. A little sketchy today

as someone thought is would be a good idea to be out shooting today. Not with a camera, but a gun. I couldn't figure out where they were, but it was close.

Also, some sort of instagram photo shoot going on under one of the train trestles. Obviously with the graffiti in the background. :-)

QUASAR2 x PERSUE x IRONLAK

GLOK Benefit @ Undisputed Fitness Training Center.

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

9913 NAE 1

Rustoleum

Drove all the way out to a spot I used to go to watch trains years ago. (like 25 years ago) There was a little restaurant next to the tracks that had burgers, tacos, and beer. We'd go up there and order our tacos and a pitcher of beer and sit outside on the patio on the benches, and bench railcars going by looking for cool graffiti. There were five rails that converged in this one spot, so trains were coming through about once every 5-10 minutes. I never brought a camera and never really even thought about taking photos of the graffiti. That place was torn down years ago to build a bridge, and it's a lot harder to access that location now and there were railroad workers on that side working. I ended up on the other side of the tracks and waited for over 2 hours, and NO TRAINS. WTF? So I ended up heading the other direction and finding some cars parked. By the time I shot those cars, I saw the lights of a train coming from the other direction, sped up there go out and grabbed some shots of one on the move.

Today I brought out two cameras and two lenses. Fujifilm X-E3, and Fujifilm X-Pro1. Two lenses. 23mm Fuji f/2, and an old Helios 58mm F/2 with m42 to X-mount adapter. Shot a few with the 58mm, but it was just too long. Most of today's shots were with the 23mm on either the Fuji bodies.

Had Fun.

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/

With Rust-Oleum Stone spray paint you can create the natural look and feel of real stone with ease. Apply to most interior surfaces including wood, metal and ceramics. Adhesive formula provides a long-lasting decorative finish. For more information visit www.imaginespraycreate.com

Don't write on the engines !!!

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

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

On my way home this afternoon around 4:45 (camera clock was off by an hour) I turned onto a long strip of road, and saw a train coming. I rushed to the other end of the road about 2 miles away and waited.

I had my Fuji X-E3 and a manual focus 7Artisans manual focus 25mm lens on the seat next to me and shot these photos from the car. Not super happy with them, but like I said, I'll be trying to capture what I see with the camera I have with me..

They are what they are.

Three tracks running today. There were times when there were two trains on two different tracks in different directions, and I had to keep looking back and forth so I wouldn't miss an amazing piece rolling by behind my back.. A little sketchy today

as someone thought is would be a good idea to be out shooting today. Not with a camera, but a gun. I couldn't figure out where they were, but it was close.

Also, some sort of instagram photo shoot going on under one of the train trestles. Obviously with the graffiti in the background. :-)

Three tracks running today. There were times when there were two trains on two different tracks in different directions, and I had to keep looking back and forth so I wouldn't miss an amazing piece rolling by behind my back.. A little sketchy today

as someone thought is would be a good idea to be out shooting today. Not with a camera, but a gun. I couldn't figure out where they were, but it was close.

Also, some sort of instagram photo shoot going on under one of the train trestles. Obviously with the graffiti in the background. :-)

Purchase price: $40

Replacement sleeve: $50

Muffler packing: $15

Rustoleum BBQ paint: $5

Total investment: $110

Sunday December 20th 2020

I've photographed these spots before, but they are ever changing, so I thought I'd shoot them again..

I've photographed some of these wall pieces multiple times, over time because every time I come back something has changed. Something added, some beef, some etc.......

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

Full set of 2012 Welling Court Street Shots here:

www.flickr.com/photos/jimkiernan/sets/72157630217876858/

Over 60 Artists from around the world came and hit the spot!

Drove all the way out to a spot I used to go to watch trains years ago. (like 25 years ago) There was a little restaurant next to the tracks that had burgers, tacos, and beer. We'd go up there and order our tacos and a pitcher of beer and sit outside on the patio on the benches, and bench railcars going by looking for cool graffiti. There were five rails that converged in this one spot, so trains were coming through about once every 5-10 minutes. I never brought a camera and never really even thought about taking photos of the graffiti. That place was torn down years ago to build a bridge, and it's a lot harder to access that location now and there were railroad workers on that side working. I ended up on the other side of the tracks and waited for over 2 hours, and NO TRAINS. WTF? So I ended up heading the other direction and finding some cars parked. By the time I shot those cars, I saw the lights of a train coming from the other direction, sped up there go out and grabbed some shots of one on the move.

Today I brought out two cameras and two lenses. Fujifilm X-E3, and Fujifilm X-Pro1. Two lenses. 23mm Fuji f/2, and an old Helios 58mm F/2 with m42 to X-mount adapter. Shot a few with the 58mm, but it was just too long. Most of today's shots were with the 23mm on either the Fuji bodies.

Had Fun.

Road Trip! Went out and benched freight graffiti at the San Bernardino - Santa Fe Depot today. Weather was fine, air was filled with smoke from all of the California fires all around us. You couldn't see the mountains that are normally all around San Bernardino. Just this light grey haze.

This yard is very friendly to people who are there to take photos. I talked to security a few times over the course of like 5 hours. Obviously you aren't going to be allowed down on the tracks, but photos and video were fine. Just check YouTube for all of the other people's videos from here.

The platform is so close to the actual tracks I had issues. I had to back up far enough, almost on to the incoming MetroLink rails to even be able to get 45 deg. shot of the freight cars. Normally, if you've seen my work I like to show whole cars. I'll have to invest in a wider lens if I'm going to continue travelling out to the Santa Fe Depot for freight graffiti.

Met Pasadena Sub Colin out there and he was actually filming. I only shoot photos, but if you want to see some great video check out his channel, and subscribe. He's all over SoCal filming trains. www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ALSPWMjJdBDdnVD0inmgQ

Santa Fe Depot: Shade, Benches, Security guards, and no rattle snakes. All of the things I DON'T have when I go hiking out into the desert to photograph freight graffiti. But,.... I still love the solitude of being out in the desert all by myself.