Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Finding Hidden Treasures

This past summer during my daily bike ride, I would frequently pass this old Pullman rail car. In its day, this car would have been the pride of the rail line, but now it's little more than a pile of rusting metal and rotting wood. In many ways the old car has become an eye sore; most folks pass by and likely just ignore it.

One morning while passing by as the sun lit up the car's side I noticed the most incredible designs that were formed by the peeling paint. I returned several days later with camera and tripod and spent a good deal of time photographing the "mystical beings" that were formed by the paint and rust. Over the course of the next month, I returned to photograph each side of the car and made a couple of hundred images. Over the last few weeks, I edit the number of images down to a couple of dozen have choose the following as two of my favorite "mystical beasts".



Ugly Betty sitting in all here glory




The ice dancers




The archer slaying the two-headed beast

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think finds like this old pullman car are treasures--it's mostly just abandoned vehicles and farm equipment around here.

The patterns of rust and paint are fascinating and I can certainly see the scenes you describe. I enjoy photos like these which allow you use imagination.

Steve Skinner said...

It's a good thing I didn't wait for next year to take the photos because they have covered the entire with the world's biggest blue tarp!

Amy said...

Steve,

This is beautiful! To "discover" these works of art in this rusted rail car...

I've seen the SS United States a few times. It still holds the record of a transatlantic crossing, but it's been moved so many times, its plans go kerplunk, and now I think it still rests at a pier in NJ, just across from Philly (at least that's where I last saw it). Like this former rail car, I think about that ship's history and glory days and stories ... ah, the many stories.

What a wonderful creative project for you!