A clean kill? Photo

Photographer’s Note

On the aerodynamic nosecone of the HST X2000 that just had arrived to Sundsvall from Stockholm I found this evidence of trains impact on nature. Running anything 200 km/h through a woodland filled with wildlife is bound to have a price. Chest high from the tracks this train had a blood patch as big as the palm of my hand. At that height it can only a big bird or a moose.

My guess is a moose, I have seen the marks before when I knew a moose had been hit and they make surprisingly small marks on trains. That is also one of the advantages with train travel in this country - if you hit a moose with your car you will get injured or killed yourself but in the train you are safe.

torben, AandK, tonyking, ktanska, gilbriones2002 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

torben (3084) 2005-12-10 13:26

The stainless steel panels around lights and air intake looks a little bent, so there may have been some impact.

The image works really well, even the lower half could stand on its own with the speckled pattern of dirt on pure white paint and the -shock- a large blood stain blending into the dirt pattern. A minimalistic composition filled with drama.

But the upper part of the image add context, a portrait of the machine that caused all this. The story is expanded and the good note fills in the details.

A very good photo, not a cliché in sight, it's obvious that you saw and experienced something for real. There is some real learning about the world through photography here.

[3]

AandK (1783) 2005-12-10 16:19

Well, the note above is the best ever... Torben says exactly everything! Actually nobody cares about these marks on trains. I care about them since I once saw the wing of a hawk in one of the windshieldwipers of the German ICE. Very interesting sight but I didn't bring my camera as always. Well, your picture is very good due to the chosen perspective. At first you don't exactly know what it actually is but then you recognise the lights of the engine. Very well done...
Andreas

ktanska (16432) 2005-12-19 2:30

Stains tell the story... Very good framing. Tight but leaves enough visible to make this recognizable.
Direct hit of a moose can cause also somewhat bigger damage. That's why Finnish Pendolinos have easy to replace noses.
Kari