The Artful Engineer

I’m always excited to stumble upon an old abandoned vehicle like the one above—they are just so photogenic!—but finding it paired with the sign above was priceless. The textures on vehicles like this are always wonderful, too. Surprisingly, the headlights look pristine; they must be made of glass rather than plastic. It’s pretty clear that the ivy is going to win the battle here:

This horse-trailer tells a similar story: in the end, nature will prevail. The key detail in this image is the grass growing on the trailer itself: the trailer may be dead and forgotten, but nature verdantly carries on.

The elements have taken their toll on this shipping container. The combination of rust and moss and peeling letters tells a story of age.

This next image is another study in textures. There are a number of elements that draw the eye to the top center: the reflector, the rivets, the metal strap, the bits of blue paint showing through, and the high contrast between the cream-colored streak and the dark moss next to it. I think the result is a nice composition.

Finally, here is an abandoned—or at least infrequently-used—railcar. The composition here relies on three elements in a triangle: the wheel, the yellow rectangle, and the green moss. There is a lot of texture, some variation in depth, and dappled light, all of which add visual interest. I only made a handful of images of this railcar (and the two others attached to it) but the number of possible compositions with a subject like this is limitless, at least if you move in close.

I hope you liked this week’s installment. Next week I will wrap up this Oregon mini-series with a bit of a smorgasbord, theme-wise, but there are some fun images that I think you will enjoy.