Artist Statement

Catching moving train is a crazy, sweaty sprint followed by a long wait. The trains don’t stand still in my photographs. I learned to use synchronized flashes to record movement at night. I spend hours outdoors on location arranging lights for a subject that isn’t there. The photographer has to guess about the result and there is only one chance to take the shot. Trains roll according to their own plan, in that sense, I’m a passive observer and much of my inspiration comes from documentary photographers. Visually, my lighting is more cinematic. My goal is to represent the drama of standing along the tracks at night.

The sounds of trains at night drew me to the landscape. But there’s also people. Train people like to share stories. There’s the story of the uncle who was hit by the train at a crossing. His younger-self who hopped trains along the Hudson or zipped through a tunnel on a motorcycle. Sometimes I record their stories while waiting for my subject to arrive. Other people have called the police for parking in front of their homes. Passersby approach me with guns because I stood on their street. Some have walked up to me and offered to fight.

I am fascinated by railroad’s slide from the forefront of American life and continued place in our identity. Graduates and married couples take portraits on the tracks because they are going places. Freight trains represent hard working towns in movies. But railroads have largely receded from public view. The semi-public spaces they run along remain. These are the places where I take photographs. To keep warm, I walk between the lights. Sometimes, after several hours, I find a new, better camera angle or a way to refine the lighting. Mostly, though, I just sit in the cold.

About

William Gill composed scenes by selectively lighting elements where the railroad industry cuts through the American landscape. This process involves spending hours on locations while waiting for trains. Images record the impact of transportation on the natural and built environments and how we view these spaces.

Gill lives a few blocks from a train yard on the Hudson River in Troy, New York.

CV

Born 1981
Lives in Troy, New York

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