I'm not sure why or where this comes from, but I find complicated machinery interesting. I went into electrical engineering as my first career and there were certainly some complicated designs along the way. But physical complexity, that's very raw, visceral. Pipes, valves, connections, wires.
My visual instinct is to put a woman against this kind of environment. Why is that? Does the hardware stand for masculinity? Or is it merely the contrast of hard vs. soft, strong vs. fragile, beautiful vs. gritty?
Mostly I've done this with aviation hardware, and because of that I tried my hand at the rail regime. Old steam engines in particular are just so fascinatingly complex. Steampunk. Fabulous.
Kinda fashiony / boudoir-y / glamour-ish, but not especially artsy. For that you need that "timeless" essence. The "serenity" factor. So I want to take another shot at it, with this particular beast.
Typically when planning a shoot on location or with an immovable object I need to do some reconnaissance to understand what I'm dealing with. My available angles, obstructions, limitations, liabilities. And that's what these shots are.
Standing in it's majestic presence I was able to visualize where my model would be, how she would interact and add to the narrative. And just last night it came to me in my subconscious dreams -- white fabric would serve as the "steam", long gone from this one's structure. If you could see what's in my head, you would call it artwork. So I will labor to extricate my head visions and put them to camera sensor for your enjoyment.
Typically I shoot without permission. Why is that? Because the answer is invariably no. And putting myself in their place I can justify it as simply an avoidance of unnecessary liability -- there is no gain for them in allowing someone to potentially be injured on their property for which they would be liable. So if I take liberties without permission, they're not aware of what I'm doing and I take special care to neither damage the property nor injure myself or model in the process.
And now in the midst of planning I find myself unable to proceed as the nation burns with our periodic cycle of racial tension inspired violence with political undertones. I may be a bit of a rebel but I have no interest in having to explain to zero tolerance police that I'm not at all defacing this historical locomotive but merely exulting in, and capturing it's beauty, as a 1st amendment right of self expression.
May justice be served. May the nation heal. May the people be calmed. May sanity return.
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