Ghost Train on the Longfellow Bridge
Ghost Train on the Longfellow Bridge, originally uploaded by briburt.
This was made on an evening that was supposed to be a photowalk in Boston for the Boston Photo Peeps group on Meetup.com, but the meetup was canceled at the last minute because of adverse weather, which was quite disappointing to me. (How often does the forecast say 100% chance of rain before it has actually started raining, anyway?)
By the time the meetup was canceled, I had already trekked into Cambridge from Concord with all of photo gear in tow, and I decided that I wasn’t about to turn around and go home on account of a few raindrops (having lived in Seattle for 12 years has tended to make me a bit blasé about precipitation, in any event).
So I decided that I wanted to to try and capture a bit of the Boston or Cambridge skyline in the evening as well as some light trails from traffic or trains, so I tried to think of places that would fit the bill and that would also be close to a Red Line “T” train stop in case I needed to beat a hasty retreat from the rain.
I settled on the Longfellow Bridge, as I had been meaning to get over there for some photos for a while and the Charles/MGH “T” stop is right next to it. By the time, I got my tripod set up on the bridge and my el-cheapo umbrella out, the rain was coming down pretty steadily — to the point where I was a bit worried about getting my equipment too wet. (As many of you may already know, I’m not much of a gearhead about camera equipment, and I assiduously avoid the “religious wars” that frequently erupt between photo gearheads that care more about their brand of gear than they do about actually taking good photos. In the end, I see the camera as a tool — a means to an end — and taking it out into the elements to get a shot doesn’t bother me too much. That said, though, I don’t want to deliberately ruin a good camera, so I do my best to keep the equipment dry and in good working order.)
I’m sure that cars passing by on the bridge must have thought I was nuts for being out there (I am nuts, btw, but for other reasons), but after I got this shot, it all made no difference. I have become more and more fascinated (even obsessed) with the light available at dusk, and this particular combination of light, color, and lines really resonates with something in me — maybe it’s the sense of energy and movement captured or the gloomy atmosphere sliced apart by the light trails. In any case, for once, I am actually happy with all aspects of one of my photos. I hope you all enjoy it as well.
