The story behind the photograph "Diesel Rust"

Diesel Rust

Along with many beautiful artworks from local artists, my photograph “Diesel Rust” is currently on display at the Key West Art and Historical Society’s exhibition “From a Woman’s Hand”. A detail from the photo is displayed in the exhibition’s advertising as well. The photo itself depicts a close-up of a piece of rusted machinery in the Diesel Power Plant on Angela Street in Key West. Here is the story behind the image.

One morning I was snapping photos at the newly constructed Waterpark at the Truman Waterfront. Some city maintenance people were working there. I complimented the supervisor on how wonderful the new park looked and how well they were maintaining it. He and his crew seemed very proud of the area, and it showed.

A few days later I was cycling back from Fort Zachary Taylor State Park where I had been taking photos of birds. The supervisor was near the entrance of the Diesel Power Plant and as I passed by he waved and asked if I had my camera with me. I said “Of course”, and he said “Follow me.”

As he led me into the building he explained that one of his relatives was a photographer and he felt that it was very important to document the historical contents of the building. When I first entered I stood still for a few moments to take in the beautiful weathering of the machinery. There was a telephoto lens on my camera rather than the wide-angle lens that I had in my camera bag and would have preferred, but time was limited and I did not want to take extra time to change lenses. I decided to focus on the details of the textures and the weathering.

We made a quick tour of the building and stopped at various places to snap photos. Since time was limited I composed the images by instinct and hoped that the photos would turn out OK. When we returned to the bright sunlight I thanked the supervisor profusely and went straight home to review the images.

When I opened the files I saw that there were about a dozen strong compositions. I edited them to bring out the beautiful rusty reds, faded blues, peeling paint, and weathered textures. I was drawn to the bold horizontals, verticals, and almost abstract quality of the photos. I named the photo that most seemed to embody the graceful aging of the machinery “Diesel Rust”. 

I submitted the photo to the jury of “From a Woman’s Hand” and was honored to be among the artists chosen to exhibit their artworks. The exhibition is running through March 22 at the Custom House Museum. You can find more information on the exhibition here. You can find details for ordering various print sizes of “Diesel Rust” on our website. Or visit our gallery at 1102 White Street in Key West (across from Fausto’s).