STEEL RAILS IN DAMP WOODS

Near where I live, railroads have always played a key role in getting timber out of the woods, and getting forest products from mill to market. In fact, the little town of Shelton, on the Olympic Peninsula, has had a train running from the woods to town for perhaps a hundred years. Until the week that I am writing this, the railroad brought loads of raw logs from the woods to the mill, just as it did in the early part of the 20th century. All that stopped abruptly with the sale of the company and the closing of the sawmill in early summer of 2015. Now the town is quiet and the railroad has ceased to run. The town died more than a little when the twin whistles of the mill and the trains stopped sounding.

I photographed this classic scene near my home. I chose to print it in black-and-white because it somehow feels more “right” to the subject. This scene has not essentially changed at all in a hundred years; it feels as if it could have been taken in 1914 instead of 2014.

LIMITED EDITION: This photographic print is part of a limited edition produced by photographer Lee Rentz. The edition consists of 250 prints, which includes all sizes and methods of printing.