This card has one of the funniest stories behind it. I came up with the idea late one December night with a full moon. I set up my camera on a tripod across the street in my neighbor’s front yard. I knew it was going to need to be a timed exposure, and it would take some experimentation. 

Here I am in the cold, with hat and gloves and camera equipment. My neighbor, Kevin, had to run an errand. He came over…before he could say anything I tried to explain. With a somewhat puzzled look on his face, he just said “please don’t scare Barbara, ok?”

So yes, that is our house in the picture. The train is real as well. It is a steam engine that makes the trip to the Grand Canyon, which we had visited that summer. While taking the night shots of the house, several cars came by and “ruined” the picture. After looking at them later, I realized that they left a very interesting red & yellow trail of light that could be used for the “magic railroad tracks.”

The train, house, and passing car images were combined in Photoshop, and the train’s headlight effects were added to complete the effect. The entire scene was rendered with the watercolor effect to mimic the storybook idea.

The same production approach was used with an iMac G4 and ofoto, but without the traditional Mac label on the back.