NZ Visual Diary - entry 410

Kiwi Rail - track maintenance vehicle

The train’s undercarriage first caught my eye - the deep blue and red utility boxes and yellow brake mechanism are deliciously flamboyant given the service nature of the vehicle. And, more generally, I have always loved large and muscular machinery, especially those objects, like the train cars in today’s image, which are dense with detail and intricacy.

The train was stabled on a maintenance track at the Morningside Train Station, a stop along the Western Line of the Auckland railway network.

I added several layers of texture to give the image greater depth and visual complexity, as the original image was interesting but quite flat in photographic terms. The wave and ripple of dancing light on and within the rear compartment of the left-side car, produced in part as pattern interference from the wire mesh of the car’s side panel, is for me especially pleasing.

Lastly, I offer apologises to Kiwi Rail. With my use of textures, I have added a grunge appearance to the train cars. In reality the cars are in much better shape than they appear here. I claim the rights of artistic licence to perform modest experiments in photographic alchemy within the pursuit of my art.