trying to keep my eye on the ball

One back, that immediately didn’t communicate with the Hasselblad body eventually began to function somewhat normally. I shot a picture of a train track, Oh but before that, Some kind of 80’s car, circa 1980, had a kinda, Mexican mafia vibe, I don’t know, Then the train tracks, and while I was walking, I hear a distant train whistle so, I turn around and position myself near the train tracks in wait as the traffic stops at the wooden arms flashing light syndrome. I point the camera down the railway Line at the approaching train, Take one shot, then another, reminding myself that Lumiere brothers had people running out of a theater with a cinema version of this, I noticed in retrospect that, there were light leaks on the train track image, and another anomaly to take into account when shooting trains, your reaction to the presence of a locomotive will cause you to be gun shy, I tripped the shutter too soon, I didn’t let the engine fill the frame. I wonder about this phenomena with other pictures, In one case if you see it it’s not on the film, in this case, it’s on film but not at the apex of possibility. I suppose with a digital video camera you if you expose the train going by at 120 frames per second, time the best moment to trigger a hassalblad then you have a powerful image. Barbara snubbed a student who brought in some banal train photos by saying, look if you’re going to make pictures of trains, Really make pictures of trains. Engross yourself in the subject. Get permission to wander about the train yard, hitch a ride with the conductor, ride with a graffiti crew in the night tagging trains, My subject is much the same as said snubbed student. It’s a kinda one off train picture, now get this, I am noticing a theme, I’m using an 80mm lens on 80th avenue. My point of departure is; walk to the grocery store. Dorthea Lange told her assistant, “you keep going out on to the intersection with your camera expecting something to happen, You need a point of departure, Going to the post office, a doctors appointment, is when pictures happen” Yes well anyway, I put the back that worked back on the body, an have decided the two backs that aren’t friendly,(the last one keeps jamming frames together,) are going to need professional service, or spent their remaining life as paper weights.