Diamond in the Dust.


Here’s another photo from the darkest depths of my archives, hidden away for decades and scanned on Monday.

From a technical standpoint it is not a great photo. It was never meant to be.

I exposed this view in 1978. I was aged 12 and the diamond on a curved section of track caught my interest so I photographed what I saw. The making of this image is not more complicated than that.

As I remember it: this view shows some disused industrial/yard trackage on the periphery of the former Boston & Maine/Rutland yard in Bellows Falls, Vermont. I exposed the photo on trip to visit Steamtown and Bellows Falls with my family. I seem to remember insisting that my parents stop the car so I could make the picture.

I’m happy that I had the foresight to expose this photo, but I wish that I could have documented this odd scrap of track in a more effective way. Yet that’s a lot to ask of a 12 year old with a camera!

Not every photo wins a prize, but some age better than others!

Exposed on Kodak Ektachrome 200 using a Leica 3A with an f2.0 50mm Summitar lens.

Tracking the Light posts Daily!

4 comments on “Diamond in the Dust.

  1. Thank you! I’d always wondered what it served. Brian S.

  2. Christopher Parker on said:

    I believe that track is still in place. It served Bellows Falls Coop Creamery until 1966.

  3. Thanks Michael! The 12-year old me, thanks you too! 😉

  4. Anonymous on said:

    It’s pretty good for a child – nicely framed with the poles, and the tractor for interest in the background. And the exposure’s pretty good, given the foreground is in shadow. I’d be pleased to have done as well as that at such a young age. Even then, you had the eye for what makes an interesting picture.

    Michael Walsh

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