Right of Way

"On a Railroad Right of Way" by Carl Sandburg

Stream, go hide yourself.

In the tall grass, in the cat-tails,
In the browns of autumn, the last purple
asters, the yellow whispers.

On the moss rock levels leave the marks
of your wave-lengths.

Sing in your gravel, in your clean gully. 

Let the moaning railroad trains go by.

Till they stop you, go on with your song.

The minnies spin in the water gravel,
In the spears of the early autumn sun. 

There must be winter fish. 

Babies, you will be jumping fish

In the first snow month.

I titled this project "Right of Way" because of the history of governments seizing private land to make room for the railroads.  In America, a lot of private and public land was taken under the Right of Way laws to build the railroads, and much of the natural environment was permanently affected.  What I enjoyed about this project was seeing how over time even nature will reclaim this land that was once taken.

Project Inspiration

Of all the photographers we covered this semester, I think I was drawn the most to Edward Burtynsky's work.  I love the way he shoots landscapes and incorporates the evidence of humans in nature.  Considering that our theme for the final project was the Integration of Land and Man, I really thought that my work would be inspired by Burtynsky's style.  However, as I was out in the field shooting, I kept going back to the lessons learned while studying Eliot Porter.

When I was setting up my shots, I kept thinking about some of Porter's methods for shooting landscapes, such as "every corner is alive" and "don't include the sky unless the sky has something to add to the photograph."  His intimate landscapes really affected the way I shot my final project.

West Prong, Little Pigeon River, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, March 12, 1969
Eliot Porter

I found myself really focusing on the subjects of my shots and their relationship to the natural environment around them.  I rarely used the sky in my photos and I tried to keep every corner "alive" if possible.  Even though the eye is drawn to the straight lines of the old rail lines in my photos, I hope that upon further review it is clear that I spent as much time focusing on the natural environment in each photo as well.

Final Project Plan

To explore the theme of the Integration of Land and Man, I chose to focus on abandoned railways in nature. In order to research possible shooting locations, I turned to the internet and found several valuable resources that helped me track down places to photograph.  One such resource is www.abandonedrails.com, which has complete listings of abandoned railways according to state.  Some listings even have pictures that others have uploaded, which gave me a strong sense if certain locations were worth photographing. It was on this site that I found several locations within 200 miles of Washington, DC, and started to create my shooting schedule.

I decided to travel north to the Susquehanna River area for Day 1.  I found two abandoned railways within a few miles of each other.

Havre de Grace to Conowingo Dam Line

Octoraro Banch Line

The first location was easy to find as a state park has been created on the site.  The second location, however, was more difficult to locate.  While I had reference maps and pictures, I couldn't find the location anywhere. So, I stopped and asked a woman who was in her front yard if she knew where I could find the railway.  She immediately pointed me to this dirt road I had driven by several times.  I drove up the dirt road, turned the corner, and there it was.  

Day 2 took me to southern Virginia.  I found three locations within 100 miles of each other, so I headed south towards Waynesboro. 

I was disappointed to find the further south I drove, the sky grew darker.  About an hour from my final destination, it started to rain.  I stopped to buy an umbrella and pushed on.  While it was wet and raining slightly at all three spots, it wasn't raining enough to prevent the shoot.  I was able to find all three locations relatively easily, but only because of solid research ahead of time.  The first spot was a mile off the road, on an unmarked path through the woods.  Thanks to the documentation online of another explorer, I was able find this location with relative ease.  

In total, I drove over 500 miles in one weekend to get all the shots for my final project.  Doing research and having a plan are what made the shoot possible.  I will really take this lesson with me for future projects.