The other day while on a business call, I had to travel through an industrial area and my eye just started picking up these images. Now I cant get them out of my head till I go shoot them.
This is the life of a photographer… once you get a composition in your head, you cant let it go till you shoot it.
It is interesting to me that I work like that. I will get fixated on a photo I want and nothing else will make me happy till I get it.
I am pretty sure that I am not alone on this either. I think it is part of the creative mindset. The photos I have in mind are of the industrial landscape that are local to my area. I saw the area in the morning light and it had this ethereal or maybe apocalyptic vibe. Like it was abandoned but was still intact and could be turned on at any moment. This is because I like those kinds of movies too, I guess.
So here is the plan, get back over there with a camera in the early morning light and shoot a bunch of stuff and then see what I got.
I found the air a little less foggy upon my return, but the morning light made it look good nonetheless so I got out and started getting images. The first stop was a plating factory that was in full operation and had a bunch of steam coming out of the factory. I had to shoot over a 6’ tall fence to get my image. It took several tries to get the one I wanted, but I finally got it.
Then I moved to work compositions around the railroad and associated infrastructure. The balance of the images are centered around this concept. I even hit pay dirt when a local switch engine showed up to move some tanker cars around!
My favorite image though has to be the image of the abandoned cattle gate. This is urban decay at its finest and I love this sort of thing for some reason. I hope this post and images inspires you to go back to something that caught your eye and get a photograph or two of it.
Until next time, get your camera out and go take a picture with it.
David - The Georgia Photographer