streetcar pictures

I have been in Portland for the past week and have picked up where I left off with the streetcar pictures. They have morphed from color to black and white and now back again to color. I have gotten into a rhythm as far as the digital capture goes, as well as working with the resulting images on the computer. I have made decisions about cropping, sizing, final presentation, etc. and feel like I’ve gotten to a good place with this new body of work.


Making these pictures is pretty exhilarating, believe it or not.


There are north and southbound trolley lines, which are just one block apart. I start out early in the morning zigzagging back and forth between the two lines, catching one as it is headed south, then the other as it is going north. (I check schedules, so I am prepared.) As the streetcar approaches, I make a decision as to where I’ll stand, i.e. what I want to have as the backdrop that will make up the one of the visual layers of the photograph. I also have to consider what may be reflected in the windows of the streetcar itself (creating another one of the layers.) These two pieces I can control. When the streetcar begins to pass, I hoist my camera and begin shooting. Of course I have no idea what is going to pass in front of my viewfinder; the surprise of what is revealed at the moment I squeeze the shutter is always exciting and always unpredictable.


This third layer that makes up these pictures (the people on the streetcar) is completely out of my control. The way passengers are positioned and the way they are interacting (or not) play a huge role in whether or not it will be an interesting picture.


That element of surprise had always been one of my favorite aspects of photography.


I am printing these as single strips, then connecting them both vertically and horizontally. They are still very much a work in progress as I continue to play around with them, but I feel like they are beginning to come to sort of resolution.


In the meantime, I am having a lot of fun making and getting to know this new batch of images.