The things that fascinates a person are what fascinates me. How did I came to be such a deliberate photographer of dirty train windows? I don't know and can't remember. It might have been after I felt some of my more interesting shots of Mongolia were taken from a train window. Desolate landscapes covered in snow - extra grainy almost analogue feeling shots because of the very unclean windows I shot them through.
While taking Dirty Train Window shots I'm happiest when the skies are grey (less change my camera is reflecting in the window), when the train is moving instead of standing still (I like the movement in the images) and when there's some dirt or even better yet, rain, on the windows (I love the extra 'layer' this provides between what you can see from inside the train, like the lights that are on, and outside the train).
It's basically me silently protesting against all those pixel perfect shots people seem to be after with their super mega pixel cameras. My first exhibition was achieved with a 4 MP point and shoot. Ha!
Most of the time when I take another (yes, I have many, sorry, they are still not boring me) picture of trees passing by my camera lens you'll see the tops of the trees, and above that some lights aligned. Check this out for example in this photo of the 'Through a Dirty Train Window' series, or this one. This time the trees were taller, maybe even closer, and the lights were differently aligned. So the light cuts the trees, trees we don't see in full.
Anyway, I can't stop it. I keep on taking these shots. Sometimes I'm out for dinner and I get asked what I see or observe. My visual eye sometimes wanders, even while talking with someone. The person asking might be surprised that I'll point them towards a certain reflections in a window creating a perfect symmetry or contrast with something else in the space. Or how if I tilt my head one centimeter to the right I find some perfect 'see-through' for some city landmark.
I'm always taking pictures, even when I'm not holding a camera.
Jeez, what a rambling post. But how can I keep talking about these pictures that I really feel like showing so I can grow my collection, while at the same time honouring the fact that you might want to have something to read?
Oh, Instagram, how perfectly simple and superficial you are.