Faded artwork, creeping vines, rust. It is quite impossible to miss this abandoned railroad car that sits at the intersection of South Reilly and Cliffdale Road. Similar to my photograph of Smitty’s Cleaners, I consider this car a landmark in its own right, and had always been intriguing to me as photographic subject matter. As matter of fact, this is not the first time I documented this car. Here are some of my photos from February 2023:
So why document it again in black and white?
Well, that is a little difficult to explain without sounding too pretentious or quasi-nostalgic. But I’m looking for that feeling after going through a beautiful coffee table book, an aesthetic experience if you would indulge me. I am trying to create an experience, not just from one photograph, but a whole corpus of black and white work that is a combination of what people may consider historic and ordinary—the things we consider sacred, and things we see and ignore everyday.
Besides, I’ve been taking black and white photos quite seriously since 2014. Perhaps I should start sharing some of those?
© Hansel Ong | August 2024