Rail Crossing

Comments, ratings on b&w rail crossing--does this composition work?

Motion blur? Thanks.

It works for me Robert. Seems to follow the rule of thirds principle, which is just fine, deliberate or not. Great image. Max Zappa.

I like it. My first impression was the crossing mechanism looked like some kind of strange hitchhiker.

The composition works for me, nice balance with the cloud to the upper right corner. The main subject is very human. Good work.

robert: you are the first person to make a RR crossing appear interesting. terrific image all around.

I really like this. The longer I look, the more I like. Makes me wonder--Where's he going, what's he haulin'--I feel like the title should be "small town passing" or something. Very good.

Yes. And I like how the crossing lights look like eyes. Like the earlier comment from Eric Rose refers to a hitch-hiker, it's true, you have managed to make the crossing signal look human. Neat!

great shot, but I think it would be much more successful shot horizontally.

I had been going to write back a flat-out "no, not horizontally" because I think that it's precisely just that anomaly of the vertical orientation (when a boxcar is so undeniably horizontal) that in this instance anthropomorphises the crossing signal into looking human, like a hitch-hiker with his arm out waiting to catch a ride. In combination with the angle from which you shot and what that angle does to the centres of the pair of signal lights, the vertical orientation foreshortens things so that the signals resemble a pair of eyes. But, then again, I guess whether you see it this way or not depends on how you see this picture in the first place.

Louise, I shot this both ways but this way seemed much more dramatic--a smaller frame to watch a fast moving picture gives this more tension, I think.