My first.

If you live in Albuquerque and own a camera, you've probably heard about the mysterious Abq. railyards. I started seriously pursuing my photography in 2006 and it wasn't long after I had purchased my first dSLR and began to go out and shoot I stumbled across some images and accounts from visits to the railyards. I was intrigued, but I didn't know how or where or when. The railyards came and went every so often when I would come across a new image from a flickr friend, or a discussion of how to break in or sneak through without anyone noticing. I always seemed to have something else going on so for those first 4 yrs I admired from afar.



Finally, in April of 2010, I got the chance to go to the railyards as part of a group from the ELCC. I had a good friend in town visiting that came along. We both worried when we arrived and saw the 40-50 people waiting to enter that it was going to be impossible to share the space with everyone. As soon as we walked in, I realized we could have had double that and still had no problems. The space is immense, and oh so beautiful. We walked all around and always seemed to find a new corner that begged to be photographed. The light was continually changing and creating new views, and by the time the 4 hrs. were up, I had taken somewhere around 450 images. I haven't been back since, but I know that there are endless other shots still awaiting the photographer in there.

I am excited for the show and to see all the different interpretations of the railyards, but also for the greater goal that the show is helping, which is the redevelopment of the railyards and opening of the WHEELS museum. I hope we can all do our part to help this along, and I'm really looking forward to what will be a great show with strong sales! There are few places, especially man-made ones, in my opinion, that inspire and promote such creative thinking and motivate a photographer by place alone. This is one of them.