Train, Phone, Duct Tape - Powdrell

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Train, Phone, Duct Tape
updated: Aug 06, 2011, 8:30 AM

By David Powdrell

So here's the deal…I've always wanted to ride the train out of Truckee, California. The track runs above Donner Pass along the Sierra Nevada mountain range through snow tunnels then down into the fertile Central Valley of California.

As luck would have it, I got that chance last week when my band got the nod to play a fundraising gig in Fresno while I was perched up at Lake Tahoe on vacation.

I traveled light and I traveled solo...a day-pack with a toothbrush, jeans, a t-shirt and my recently acquired IPhone.

As the train chugged along the mountain pass, I kept seeing instant and sudden flashes of interesting images through the frame of the train window. But with little or no time to really anticipate the oncoming scenery, I would inevitably miss any decent photographic opportunities. The lag time inherent in most cell phone cameras combined with the speed of the train kept me guessing as to when to hit the shutter button.

I needed duct tape.

Terry, our gruff, grey-haired train conductor, came to my rescue. He was able to scrounge up a piece of used duct tape that enabled me to adhere my cell phone directly and firmly to the Amtrak window. For the next 8 hours I'd randomly push the shutter button of the cell phone camera, but never really sure if any meaningful images would come from the idea.

I knew the concept was quirky and that the image resolution would be marginal, but with a cheap IPhone app that converted the images to black and white, I think I got a few interesting shots. See what you think.

Oh, and the Fresno gig was a blast.