www.passingtrain.com

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Harold Walters' Professional Photography career spanned 15 years in New York City. Beginning as a Freelance Photographer for The Brooklyn Phoenix Newspaper, Harold followed with several years at Fairchild Publications, then Staff Photographer for The American Museum of Natural History. He opened his own studio specializing in advertising, corporate and industrial photography concluding his professional photography career as Chief Medical Photographer for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. ​Settling in Lancaster PA and embarking upon several business ventures, Harold only recently picked up a camera again. Primarily interested in photographing trains, vintage aircraft and barns, some of his his most recent work has appeared in The Train Collectors Quarterly, the books: The Road Less Traveled, Time Passages, Passing Trains and numerous calendars. Why Passing Train? Steve Goodman's City of New Orleans chronicles a train ride he took from Chicago to New Orleans in 1970. His song describes the profound experience of witnessing the demise of American railroads. In a larger sense however it chronicles the passing of an age and the uncertain future we all face. The song kept running through my mind while designing this site, one line in particular inspired the title, Passing Train. The background picture for the website's "About" page, The Cog Railway nearing the summit of Mt Washington in New Hampshire was shot in October of 1982 while I was on assignment for the state of New Hampshire and FPG International. I had recently left The American Museum of Natural History and opened my own studio and this photograph was one of my first major sales. It was a very popular New Hampshire postcard for decades. For over 20 years a framed print hung in my office through 4 homes in 2 states, while raising 3 children, through a divorce and then, like my life, placed into storage. In 2008 I met the girl of my dreams, the picture came out of storage and was hung over my desk once again. In 2012 Holly, her children and I hiked to the top of Mt Washington. In a previous life, that wasn't an option but somehow it seemed representative of our new life together. When we returned home I discovered that of all the trails to the top of Mt Washington, the Gulfside Trail is the only one that crosses the railway tracks. In this photograph from 1982 the Cog Railway train is spanning that trail. 30 years later Holly and I crossed at exactly the same spot. Sometimes the passing of an age and the uncertain future are frozen in time. That's why I created this site, because halfway home, we'll be there by morning.