City - Richmond in the dumps, train tracks State - VIRGINIA Country - United States
About
took this years back in virginia down on the train tracks, this dog was probably just trying stay warm on the tracks on a winters night, i came opon him the next day or the two days after, poor dog..... i feel its a strong image of the hardships of what happends when a loose wild dog needs to survive though..
you let me know what you think, can i do anything to this one????
I want to assure everyone on the forum, this is a real photograph, not PS at all, only color correction was used as it was photographed from an original print i had made from my EOS elan II E, many years back... i will upload one more version to get the story across as i only have five total images of this poor animal, i didnt know what to think of the situation, how to photograph it, so let me know if i could have done anything better... tell the story a bit more.
hey eric, this situation that you came up with was pretty much my only thought on it as well talking it over with some freinds over the past week, the dogs head is to perfect on the tracks, to percise inbetween the two iron bars, and everyone that has commented about blood, and there really wasnt any except a slight bit on the mouth area around the neck, this one still puzzles me but thanks for viewing and commenting on this one....
ps, yeah i had nothing to do with this one, cept walk up to it and start shooting images,
Definitely a powerful shot, and I hate to say this, but I think the dog was placed there to be hit by someone. (Let me be quick to say that in no way am I implying that you had anything to do with it Phillip.) The location of the cut perfectly beheading him is just too convenient, and the only way I can account for no bleeding is if he was already dead and the blood coagulated when he was hit. I would hope I'm wrong, but... Eric
hey tom, interesting point as well, and the way the dogs head is perfectly between the two pieces of iron, blood, i dont know, you would think there would have been a little, only on the dogs mouth did i see any, visible on a CU i have, but none anywhere else, only situation i could come up with, train going fast squishes neck inbetween two iron bars, no blood cause it didnt hit the mass of the body, the only blood would be visible around the fur on the mouth,neck, and on the right side of the tracks, which there isnt really any on the right side as per i have images of the matted down fur where the train passed over the body side, where the feet are... i was really perplexed by this dog, his death and how to photograph it... ill upload another version of the image tomorrow, different perspective, and well see....
thanks for viewing tom, thanks for the thoughts and comments
very interesting image, phillip. i'm not quite sure what to say. like kevin mentioned it is certainly a strong image. but something is off and i'm not quite sure what it is. after looking at it for a long while i noticed something odd. there is no blood. what happened to the blood?
monique, my thoughts exactly when i shot it, the dog is pretty much in tackt i have others of it with the tracks running perfectly verticle, and the dogs fur is even almost untouched, which i didnt understand, you would think he would have been more strewn about or strugled or something that this image doesnt suggest, maybe he was dead before being struck, or almost to that state, i dont know, puzzled me for a couple days, cause your right, trains are loud, dogs even when sleeping wake up to slight noises, let along a huge train coming barelling down on a head against the tracks!!!! puzzleing thoughts,
thanks for viewing, even though its a rough one to view, and thanks for the comments, i agree with you and kevin totally
i think the image is cropped well and the chaos that Kevin talks about is helpful. theremust have been some sort of chaos during the death, trains make a lot of noise, and if the driver saw the dog he probably used the horn also, in attempt to try to get the dog to move. i like the shot alot, dispite the gloomy subject
thanks kevin, for the comments on this one, i didnt know how people would react to it, being it is a death of someones dog possibly, a little bit of a harsh image, the image itself was shot tonight by the 20D from a print, thats possibly why it has a slight blur or ridgidness to it, a matt photo shot on digital, weird things happen, thanks again for your comment, i enjoy the feedback on my work
Wow, that is a strong image, Phil. Appropriate for the category I think - death is the ultimate expression of solitude, isn't it? While the image doesn't exactly appear tack sharp here I think some ambiguity is welcome... I didn't think it was a dog when I clicked the thumbnail, that's for sure. I like the darkened corners, though, it helps the image "poetically", if that makes any sense to you. Actually, looking at it further, the criss-crossing lines make this seem kind of chaotic, which may hold back it's somber side. Just a thought, though...
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