Driv(ing)-By(e): Freighty

25°50'29.4"N 80°11'47.6"W

Fright trains hold a specific place in my psyche. Even though I really didn’t like the book, “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac, I romanticized about seeing the country by freight train. During 2006 when I was living in Alaska and laid off from Noritsu, I tried applying to the railroad. With 20/20 hindsight, thankfully, that didn’t work out. While I would have loved to have remained living in AIaska, I fully understood that it would be a terrible way to see the country; but I connect with the idea of traveling across the country and being On The Road. Much of my early photography, including my senior exhibition for undergrad graduation, focused on my travels, On The Road, with Roxy, my 1977 Corvette. Through the years there have been many memories of trains, but two really stood out when I shot and edited this image.

When I was in high school, a friend was killed late one night while driving on a country road when she ran into the broadside of a freight train that was traveling at high speed. There were no crossing lights at the intersection. It was a dark night. It was moonless night. And based on the lack of skid marks, she never knew what she hit. Even worse, her toddler was in the car with her. In an ironic twist, I found out about the accident the next evening when I arrived at the home of a date. I learned not only of the death of my friend, but that she was a mutual friend of my date.

For many years, my wife and I have lived in a townhouse about 40 yards from train tracks that have freight and commuter trains rolling back and forth most of the day and evening. For the most part, we rarely hear the trains go past. But, the trains have been a constant source of entertainment for our sons. Each of them, between 18 months and 3 years old, have run to the door screaming that “Freighty” is going past! Not until I I take them out and let them watch the train cars rubble by from my shoulders - counting the cars, naming the colors until the last car passes - would they stop shouting. Of course, I never let on that I loved doing that with them. If I had, they would have quickly forgotten about the trains and wanted to watch Blippi instead!

Driv(ing)-By(e): Specticals

25°49'46.1"N 80°11'46.8"W

What caught my attention at this intersection was how people were choosing to time their crossing. In Miami, pedestrians rarely pay any attention to intersections or stop lights. While I waited at the red light and traffic was crossing in front of me, a group of 3 young women began pushing a baby stroller across the street with the oncoming traffic. Like the young man on the bike, they group was wearing dark clothing and paying little attention to the traffic. The bike rider was riding circles around them, waiting for an opportunity to cross, which he began right as my light turned green and the oncoming car……

The title for this post is inspired by the bike tires and how I am reminded of the eyes in Manuel Álvarez Bravo’s 1932 image, 'Parabola optica.'

Driv(ing)-By(e): Official Business

25°48'19.9"N 80°12'26.5"W

I was at stopped at least 10 cars back from the stop light and the light had just turned green. The line of cars was slowly starting to move in the fits and starts usually indicating drivers were distracted by their phones. As is the norm in Miami, this is when pedestrians will step into the line of cars and cross the street before the oncoming traffic makes it through the intersection and up to speed. I happen to notice a police officer starting across the street from the darkness of a side street just before I released the brake…

Driv(ing)-By(e) is a title that references not just the physical creation of the images, but also my past as a forensic photographer. The physical creation of the images was mostly done while sitting in traffic. My drive home from approximately NW 7th ave and 14th street takes anywhere from 45 min to an hour as navigate through side streets and cut up and down residential streets to avoid major intersections, accidents, or multiple blocks of stop lights. There isn’t any easy, major artery from north to south or east to west that takes me directly to where I need to be. Inevitably, I still end up in bumper to bumper traffic, inching along. Stationed in the center console, close at hand, is my camera.

There are two methods I use for shooting. While at a stop light, I will look for interesting islands of light and any action that may be coming into or out of the island. Being stopped, there is time to focus, compose and wait until the light changes and traffic begins to move again. Even then, I always have a few more seconds as most drivers finish the text message or other phone-related activity. I refer to these images as, Driving-By; I just happened to have stopped for a moment. The other method is more “shooting from the hip.” Since I am using a short focal length, 35mm lens, I don’t have to worry about minimal focal distance, depth of field or framing. I just mount the camera, activate the auto focus and once it ‘beeps’ start firing the shutter as I feel the timing; never looking through the viewfinder or back screen… aka, “I’m Driving,bye!'“ Once I get the images into post-production, I see if I got anything worth editing.

Finally, the title is an ominous reference to “drive-by shootings.” As a forensic photography intern at the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s office during 2003, I photographed over 700 autopsies. Quite a few were of victims from drive-by shootings and many were burned into both film and memory. In some sense, there is something at once familiar and distant about the areas I drive through. To be sure, none of these locations were actual crime scenes that I was present to photograph, but I do drive past the Medical Examiner’s office many days during the drive home.