Railway Museum Abstractions

[David]

A recent visit to the city of York led me to the National Railway Museum. No doubt engines and carriages are worthy subjects for photography and I certainly took a few shots with a Canon Ixus 100IS. However, I was also attracted to more unusual scenes - abstractions really. Here are three, the first being a self-portrait.



The second seems totally bizarre, yet it is simply the reflection of roof windows on an engine's smoke stack.



The third I've called Knobs and Wheels Abstraction. It just seemed appropriate:



Comments and crits are welcome as usual.

Cheers

David

[Donald]

The first point is to agree with the concept. When we go to places like the railway museum the temptation/expectation is that we look for the beautiful image of the mighty engine or carriage, as you say. Given the constraints (space, other people, etc) it's almost impossible to achieve that objective. So, how to represent an experience of the place?

What you've done, David, does do that. So, lots of plus points for the vision.

#1 doesn't excite me in the same way as #2 and #3, notwithstanding your status as an excellent model! #2 tells us about something about the lightness and airiness of the place. #3 tells us a story about engineering and manufacture (i.e. industry). It's obvious we're looking at something with a history. My only question is whether it loses something from there being a lot of blank space in the middle; i.e. an area without brackets, bolts etc. However, the pattern of light on the polished metal is attractive in its own right.

[rick55]

Very nice, David. I like #1 and #3 best. Rather than a self-portrait, I'd call #1 an image of a photographer working in a large area, with a crowd at the perimeter. What I love about #3 is the rippled effect of the metal, reminding of the time what the machinery of production wasn't always capable of turning out perfectly smooth surfaces, or at least, it wasn't demanded in many cases. A photo of the whole beast wouldn't give that sense.

An excellent job of stepping outside the normal "snaps of my visit to the museum" mold.

Cheers,
Rick

[David]

Thanks Guys for your supportive comments. Donald may be correct about the space in #3, but then again I like the texture and colours of the metal. I'm going to look out more for this type of shot. Thanks again.

David