When I set out for Roger Williams Park at lunch today, I was hoping to photograph this little train set against the Carousel. Arriving at the park, however, the train was nowhere to be found and the carousel was locked and closed. It looked like they had closed for the season, so I went off in search of something else. There's a section near the park's botanical gardens with some nice foliage, and also a very nice old stone bridge. I took a few photos there, planning to likely use the bridge for today, and headed back out of the park. Just as I passed the carousel, however, the little train rounded the bend and the doors to the carousel were opened! Back to "Plan A." I quickly (and probably illegally) made a U-Turn and parked at the carousel. While composing my photo, the toddler you see touching the train walked up to it and called back to his mom, "Ride the Choo-Choo?" I looked over to her and she just laughed and shrugged, saying, "He loves trains." No problem. I do too. As she had no objection, I included him in the scene, for which I'm grateful. His presence touching the train adds a tremendous amount of life to what would otherwise have been a very sterile scene.
Post processing started with a classic filter in Topaz B&W FX. I adjusted adaptive exposure, regions, protect highlights, boost black, boost white, contrast, and the color sensitivity sliders. A levels adjustment was applied in PSE.
It is so interesting that often the very first or very last photo of the day (with numerous between) are the final selections. You are right--the toddler makes the scene a story!
@bluesteel44 Thanks, Katrin! You're right, it does remind me of an old movie set.