"There are no shortcuts to anyplace worth going." Beverly Sills
....It's called opportunity!
In my case, as you've read here before, sometimes "opportunity" has to literally slap me in the face before I begin to pay attention and the scene above was a perfect case in point. While standing with my camera I could not for the life of me figure out why I was even contemplating this capture. The truth be told I almost edited out before downloading my work into the computer and even after looking at it on the computer screen I was none too thrilled.
After a few days of editing other work I decided to "take the bull by the horns" and wrestle with this "pest". Don't get me wrong...I love trains and their surroundings and as a boy, usually on Sunday mornings, I would go with my father down to the train yards to watch the large steam locomotives come into the local station. I even had my own Lionel train set which I held as priceless as a youngster (and now that I don't have it anymore it probably is).
As I looked at this image of the shiny yellow diesel engine and spiffy station I realized that most trains and stations that I've witnessed are pretty "grungy" looking. In fact the only "shiny" diesel engines I've ever seen are in a magazine ad and never spiffed up in the working world.
So, the answer was to bring this scene into real life by dirtying it up a bit, which I did through the HDR process in Nik HDR Efex Pro. After this process I had to correct some converging lines of the building through Photoshop CS5 and a little later I wandered into Nik Color Efex and worked with the Tonal Contrast alterations and also gave the image a slight vignette. After looking at it for a while (most of the day) I decided that the blank blue sky (what little there is) was bothersome and the scene was still not "vintage" enough so I used a "Fly Paper" texture to finish the story.
Now, I can sit back and revel in what a smart boy I was to recognize this opportunity when it presented itself.....NOT! I'm just glad I kept my finger off the delete button and that the pesky image kept showing up on my computer screen.
Sometimes opportunities don't come with a red flag and warning sign. Don't pass yours up!
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to comment on your favorite of this post.
My book "Places I've Been, Things I've Seen" can be purchased online at-
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/1868649
For more views of my work visit;
"A Piece Of Work", Spirit Lake, Iowa http://www.apieceofworkinc.com
Lanesboro Art Center, Lanesboro, Minnesota www.lanesboroarts.org
BetterPhoto.com http://www.betterphoto.com/Premium/Default.aspx?id=251674&mp=V