Day 6: Railroad

2026-02-12

Hello! I'd like to say this was an intentional follow-up to yesterday's photo of the day, but no. Just a coincidence! They only vaguely line up anyway. Instead of continuing down the topic of steel and industry, let's get back to photography concepts.

If you've looked up basic photography rules or advice, you will have heard about composition. These are creative techniques that make a photo look more intentional. Hell, it's not just photos — art in general can follow some common composition techniques. When I took a high school journalism class, we were reminded of three common composition techniques: rule of thirds, framing, and leading lines.

Railroads are an easy example of leading lines. So I went out around 5am, when the railroad crossing wasn't busy, to get this picture. "Leading lines" imply that the lines must lead somewhere, guiding your eye from the foreground to a point in the back. But in this case, they trail off to infinity (or until the track curves out in the distance). Here, the leading lines converge at a vanishing point.

Do I need to say that active railroads are dangerous? Keep your wits about you, or, better yet, find something else. In fact, the railroad crossing was active; at one point, a train was approaching. At that point, the sun wasn't up yet, so the dark snowy grounds suddenly becoming bright red with the warning clangs was terrifying. I ran out in time.

Eventually, I'll get around to creating clear examples of other composition techniques. After all, this website functions mainly as a way to show my growth as a hobbyist photographer. And if I can bring along other new artists along with me on my journey, that would be amazing.

Thank you for visiting this blog! Special thanks to the newsletter subscribers; you get this photo a week before the internet does :-).

Cheers,
David