Homage to “The Americans”

I was attending a photo workshop in Durango, Colorado last year, hosted by the estimable Derrick Story. One of the workshop features was a chance to ride the small gauge railroad from Durango to Silverton and back. I would have been all in no matter the season, but the chance to do it when the birch forests were at full vibrant yellow fall color made it a no brainer. While waiting for our train to board, I watched a railway worker doing a safety check on one of the railcars. I thought the colors of the car and the duality of the passengers with the safety engineer were interesting so I took the shot and didn’t think much more about it — I just thought I’d like it.

Later that day as I was looking more closely at the photograph, it occurred to me that there was some similarity (at least in my eyes) between the passengers on the train, and the passengers on the bus in the iconic cover photo of Robert Frank’s “The Americans” (https://www.lensculture.com/articles/robert-frank-the-americans ). Now, I’m not comparing my shot to the cover of one of the most important books in American photographic history. But there was something there to me. I like the photo by itself, and even if it just reminds me of the greatness of Frank that’s a good thing.

I guess my title may be misleading. Can you pay homage to a photo when you didn’t create the new shot consciously with the original work in mind?