Somewhere In Niagara – Photo Of The Week

Mystery Train

I have taken the summer for some much needed time to reflect and revitalize. And now I’m back.

Somewhere In Niagara is my continuing journey through the gravel tracks, disused dirt roads, and side trails of the Niagara region, capturing nature off the beaten track. No tourist areas. Just me, a camera, and peace.

I’m going to choose one image per week for upload to this blog. This one, Mystery Train, is the first. The name is taken from a song title I enjoyed in my youth. Status Quo. Look it up.

Where?

For several reasons, I rarely provide locations. Somewhere In Niagara is as specific as I care to be, in most cases. Let’s just say I saw a dirt road that said ‘use at own risk’. So I did.

A few minutes later my road car and I were bouncing through grass and mud-filled ruts, eventually coming to a clearly disused rail crossing – the rails were covered in growing things. Looking both ways as I went just to be sure, I gingerly coaxed the car over the raised and rusted rails, and drove on as far as I could before deciding that to go any further would be ill-advised: It’s a road car, and she didn’t have ground clearance for the next ditch. So. Rather than get beached and stranded, I turned her around. And this is why I do this.

From this side, the crossing post became a focal point, and that atmospheric avenue of trees was hypnotic. That ramp of grass leads the eye right up to it. Almost wanted to take a run at it and jump the tracks.

Getting out of the car I positioned myself and the tripod amid a growing cloud of happy, hungry mosquitos that must have thought I was meals on wheels. Which I was, I guess. And I took this. Plus a few others not shown here.

Onwards

Itching passes in a day or two. Photos? Photos are forever. I really like this composition. I hope you do, too.

This and many other images are already available on my photo site, from where products and prints of various sizes can be purchased. Or you can just enjoy the images. I will be adding more each week. Subscribe for updates.

When you get to the link, click the photo to zoom in and view full size. Then you can scroll around to see all the detail that I saw. I found this scene captivating. I sat in the car after taking it for a good ten minutes, just soaking in the peace and solitude. And scratching. Back at home, I was able to see the images on the big screen. I sat and watched it for at least another ten minutes before I uploaded it. There’s just something about it.

This may be a candidate for my own office wall.