Canadian Pacific Freight Departing Smith Falls, Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada 1991

James Welling made this photograph, *Canadian Pacific Freight Departing Smith Falls*, with film, and the print is gelatin silver. Looking at it, I’m wondering what Welling was thinking about when he was framing this shot. The station is on the left, but he’s included just enough of it to contrast with the enormity of the train. The foreground is dark, full of weeds—but not so dark you can't feel the space. The tracks lead toward a central vanishing point, which create a portal, another place to go. The texture is smooth and the tones are beautifully modulated. There’s no crispness, but the image has incredible presence. I like that Welling didn't crop it to make it more dramatic, but left in the details. It's a picture about how we see as much as what we see, and connects to his ongoing experimentation with photography, a conversation with artists like Steichen and Strand, and a reminder that photography is a way of thinking about what is real.