Nut job

No...this title does not pertain to cosmetic surgery in the nether region. So take your mind out of the gutter...pronto. I'll be attacking that subject in another blog down the road...(lol). This is about one of my all time favorite characters. There are a few that I grew fond of and have admired over the years...
Buckminster Fuller, Timothy Leary, Jim Morrisson, Aldous Huxley, Hunter S.Thompson, Jacques Languirand... just to name a few.
What interested me in these people is the fact that they always managed to push the envelope, even in the face of adversity. Not as rich as Bill Gates or as famous as Michael Jackson, they did however leave an indelible mark on society and myself.
One such oddball is Ogle Winston Link. I'll dispense with his bio (you can find the info on the web) but it is important to note that he opened his photography studio after the war in 1946. Winston, during his career, went literally out of his way to immortalize the great steam locomotives of days gone by.
He had adopted this mission and took it very seriously. So seriously in fact that he is credited as being a pioneer of night photography. Funny because his initials are O.W.L. Anyone of us, including professionals who have ever tried great night shots will concur that it's not an easy task...even with today's much improved equipment.
So old Ogle here engineered his own lighting system to capture the metal beasts as they roared into the depth of the night, spitting clouds of white smoke.
Working with slower than molasses film, a camera that was as user friendly as plastic wrapping for CDs and one shot flash bulbs, his images are not only valuable historic recordings of an era but also an ode to steam locomotion.
I was never an aficionado of rail machines like my childhood friend Marc who most probably still has, at the ripe age 56, a complete Lionel train set stashed somewhere. Or my other friend Michel who owns and meticulously maintains, with Q-tips, a train set that takes up a fifth of his apartment, complete and ready to roll. But when I saw Link's images for the first time, I was speechless and quite overwhelmed with the
forcefulness that his pictures reflected, So, if you're so inclined or just curious, you can check out his work at... http://www.linkmuseum.org/ It's well worth the visit.
And if you're into a more direct train experience, you can check out www.orfordexpress.com
They offer site seeing in the Eastern Townships with culinary delights aboard their Lounge car.

Footnote:The picture is of O.W.Link and his assistant with the equipment.
I'm sorry if the blog is shorter this week. My work week made it a tad difficult to find the time to write and publish before my self imposed deadline.