Here are a few iPhone photos from Union Station in Chicago and the Southwest Chief route. The ride is, at times, fast and bumpy, then other times, slow and steady. We are currently leaving Albuquerque, NM.
The slow steady midnight train to Chicago, the Capitol Limited, was worth every minute. The experience included storm clouds, rain, a sunset, a sunrise, miles of farmland and steel mills. Riding through Pittsburgh was less revealing than I imagined, but I captured a few photographs displaying the city amongst bridges. Below are a few unprocessed images from the first two legs of this trip. Today we board for the longest segment, 31 hours to Flagstaff, AZ. We'll travel through Illinois, Iowa(tiny bit), Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. I wonder what else is out there besides corn and soy?
Sunday we'll leave on this railway for DC then board the Capitol
Limited route to Chicago. I'm in the final stages of testing my tools
and gathering information. Please check back for updates.
My mission as an artist is to seek, document and share experiences. Earlier this year, I was an Artist in Residence at Burley Middle School in Albemarle County, Virginia. I presented photographs from the Empire Builder route of myI Ride Trains project. First, students described 14 different photographs from the train route through a sensory exercise. Next, they were asked to write a journal entry, newspaper article, letter or essay based on the imagery. On the third day, we captured photographs traveling by bus throughout Charlottesville, Virginia. It was such a fulfilling experience to watch over 70 middle school students engage with their environment through photography.
My project was a Kickstarter staff pick and was noted on there blog.
Thank you everyone for your support.
I Ride Trains: Photographing America, by Stacey Evans
I
love Stacey's project because I want to live through her vicariously.
The Virginia-based photographer has made a career out of riding trains,
traversing wide swaths of the American landscape in order to capture it
via photographs and videos taken from rocking train car windows. She's
taken fourteen trips so far, resulting in an impressive collection of
imagery that explores the American landscape, and how people "co-exist
with other humans, architecture, and nature." What a life! And her next
trip will be her longest yet, beginning in her homebase of
Charlottesville and ending all the way in Los Angeles. I'll back because
I want to be there every step (train track?) of the way! — Cassie M.
A slideshow from the 2010 exhibition at the Page Bond Gallery with audio by gallery director Page Bond. She compares me to Gerhard Richter and Ansel Adams, so honored.
Three of my photographs are included in Photo 2011 Annual Juried Mid-Atlantic Photo Exhibition at Artisphere in Arlington, VA. The show is on display until Sept. 10.
My work was mentioned in a review of the show by Mark Jenkins of the Washington Post.
The juror, Amanda Maddox, is the former Associate Curator of Photography and Media Arts at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
