Bear Creek Curve. L.V.R.R.

Positioning his camera directly in the path of an approaching train, William H. Rau made this bold composition of three parallel tracks converging at a bend along the Lehigh Valley Railroad. He framed the photograph so that the peripheral tracks enter the composition in the left and right corners of the foreground, receding toward the center of the composition. He placed the signal light, rather than the steam engine, in the direct center of the image. Beside the signal light, a railway worker stands with a hands on one hip. The photograph, which was probably made for railway advertising purposes, also shows the scenic beauty of rural Pennsylvania.