| Kestrel of Bahji Photography |
contact: kestrelofbahji4500@yahoo.com |
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| Showa Bridge in the Night Season |
Some people love Nature and some industry. I love a combination of the two. This was taken in industrial Kawasaki, Japan. Unseen fish are swimming under the water, a solitary cat looks on, herons are flying above. I feel at peace and at home here. This photograph is a dream in the sense that it looking from the present world into the world of the spirit. I visited this spot many times over a two year period and took hundreds of photographs, mostly at night. It is a combination of two high resolution photographs, each over a minute exposure and from a slightly different vantage point.
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| © Conrad Saya Reina |
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Yokohama Gateway
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| A train, freight or passenger, can be a gateway to a city. It is your introduction or your farewell to a new world. In some ways, at least visually, a city looks its best at night. I love the crystal clarity of the structures vs the dream-like reflections on the water. The cranes on the right seem to be building a structure of pure light. |
| © Conrad Saya Reina |
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| GG1 at a Station |
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Designed in the 1930's, the GG1 was the most powerful locomotive in the world. It's design was inspired by the whale. I think this photograph portrays the massiveness of the locomotive. The station is like a stage set before the performers arrive.
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© Conrad Saya Reina |
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| The Brakeman |
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There are few men like him left in the world: solid and dedicated. I used to visit the 72nd Street train yards pretty often when I was a photography student. They were a small island on which still moved a dying railroad and a dying way of life-- surrounded by the violence and chaos of New York. Some of the yard men were "hop-heads", eyes clouded over by a white film from whiskey. Sometimes gangs attacked them. One man was hit in the back by a pole with a nail attached. One man got sick of it and showed up for work in his WWII uniform and rifle. He fired back at the hoodlums. |
| © Conrad Saya Reina |
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Hoboken Station Tunnels |
| The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad built this tunnel and the one running parallel to it in the early 20th century. Passenger trains still regularly use them. We used to walk through them and hop freight trains on the Erie Lackawanna Railroad. I used my Leica M2 for this one. |
| © Conrad Saya Reina |
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| Hopping a Freight Train: Erie Lackawanna Railroad
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| This was a favorite line of ours to hop a freight and disappear for a few days. We were around Weehawken. The trick is to avoid the yard bulls and not get shot or taken to jail. One night the train slowed down. There was a gang of policeman with a search light pointed at our freight. There was no way to escape being caught, until we got the bright idea of laying flat on the roof of our grain car. We were lucky that there was enough clearance under the bridges. This was taken around 1975. Also Leica M2.
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© Conrad SayaReina
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| The Steersman
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| We were on a small motorless boat on the Katsura River around Arashiyama, Kyoto. The full moon bathed everything with a peaceful light. I had a vision of being escorted to the Next World and this man was our guide to Eternity.
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| South of the Thomas Viaduct, Relay
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I took this photograph around 1975 with the M2. I was around 20. I hopped this train just south of the Thomas Viaduct. We would head south, then west. I hung onto the rail of the oilcar with one hand and took the photograph with the other. The angle gives an indication of the action.
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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The Artist Searching
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| Harmony
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| I stood at this spot for hours over two days, waiting for the train to come. This day was sunny, but you can see the traces of the heavy snowfall from the previous day. One of the locals signaled to come to his van window and offered me a can of hot coffee, most welcome. I think this is a peaceful photograph with every element of the scene in harmony.
Mino-Akasuka, Gifu Prefecture. I used the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark 2.
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| The Welder
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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The LonelyBoxcar
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| I photographed this around 1975 with the Leica M2. My own belief is that some things in this world have a kind of soul. They are a shadow of their true form in the Next, or Spirit World. I hope to meet this boxcar there. The grain of a film photograph suits this scene perfectly. The sky, the boxcar, and the ground are unified by their visual texture.
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| The Artist
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| Sleeping Shanghai Cat
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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© Conrad Saya Reina
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| Poster
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| Higashi Fujiwara
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| The Flagkeeper
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| The Bank
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| The Engineer
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| The Brakeman - Ogimachi Yard |
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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| © Conrad Saya Reina
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