My fear, in the present state I am? Falling into a rut, and not being inspired as a result. Late August I was laid off. It was a bit of a shock seeing as how business was finally picking up. Now with mounting bills, call-backs left unanswered, interviews cancelled minutes before they were to start, I have officially fallen into a rut.

I can usually piece together something witty, or comment stuff about interesting goings-on, but recently it has floundered. To pull myself out of my rut, I picked up my cameras, and headed to Rye Playland in New York, a toll or two down the NY Thruway from where I am. Hey, what better way to grab a bummed out mood by going to an amusement park: a place where kids laugh, rides run, music plays, families converge, etc... but only now, it is dark, desolate, a bit cold, quiet, and closed.

The fruit of my journey was over 500 photos and images, but I'll spare the 500 and post, oh, 5 or so. Some altered for "colour, contrast, and creativity." Still, in its silence and quiet, with only the little Long Island sound waves tumbling on the beach and smacking the pylons, it all seemed kinda nice. Hopefully it inspired me enough to pull me out, if just for a little bit.

the fishing dock no title no title shot #3 After the amusements are closed no title shot #1 fountain

On the Hudson River, the trains run almost constantly. The echoes at Breakneck Mountain bounce up and down the valley, breaking the chopping of the river against the rocky shore. The tracks on the eastern shore are set side by side.

There are also interesting tunnels cut into the mountains along the way, one sits in the middle of a triple side-by-side tunnel, and as dangerous as it was, I set my camera along the rail. The zoom on a camera is a great feature, but the picture comes out safely, yet the subject is  still the tunnel. At night, it gives off a surreal beauty, a very interesting thing if you don't know that you're looking at the tunnel.

When you're looking at the tunnel, sometimes you forget there are two lines running. The rails literally start to sing with a rapid vibration for a few seconds, and when you turn around, you can adjust your shot- just in time to see commuters zipping along, oblivious to the photographer, freezing his personal seat cushions off.

Next time, maybe I'll stay in the car, and take pictures at-grade  through the windshield.

The rest of us, however, read Calvin and Hobbes.

"What I saw.. was "Too beautiful to have been an accident.

Up in Kingston, New York the past couple of years has seen some major flooding from tons (gallons?) of rain.

One of the more interesting sites around Kingston is an old section of train tracks located a few miles south of the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge on Route 209. On the tracks, old New Jersey Transit train cars- old fixtures and old fans (definitly before air conditioning,) still on their mounts on pealing paint.

The rain storms and flooding that occurred washed away much of the track bedding, causing 3 of the 5 cars to delicately balance on the mounds of dirt underneath each car's 'trucks' (wheels.) This is what it looks like these days- I photographed them, climbed inside the passenger cars- to document it. A bit dangerous, and a noticable listing to one side (just two weeks ago I was inside the cars, and there wasn't a list to the cars.) Anyway, here we go:

Train Car named Desire Precarious Probably shouldn't be standing underneath this thing. One more downpour and it's over.
Inside View Outside view

Went up to Howe Caverns up in the Catskills, and took some pictures of the sights. One Cave Two Cave Three Cave Four

Not much for geologically signicant photos, but artistically trippy.

The skeletal remains of a late-summer campfire, shot in September, adjusted in photoshop. Presenting The Burning Man of Mohonk Ridge