I was traveling somewhere in the southern plains of Romania, in the fall of 2010. It was raining and the gloomy sky was hovering very close to the ground, so close that in fact there was no horizon to be seen. I was alone in that car and kind of sleepy. I snuggled more comfy on the seat and closed my eyes, falling asleep almost immediately.
No idea for how long I napped, but I was awaken by the shake of the car; apparently, we stopped in the middle of nowhere, for some reason or another. The car shook when we started rolling again, and that was what woke me up. Looking on the window, I noticed another train, running a parallel course to mine, but on opposite direction.
Took my Minox IIIs from the pocket, and without even thinking I snapped once at the train in the distance. Must’ve been lucky, because the photograph was all right. The only thing I managed to do in that hurry of a motion was to push the orange filter over the lens, but no time to check the shutter setting or distance dial.
This is why I still have no idea what speed the camera was set to, and lucky me (again), the distance dial was set at the hyperfocal. It usually is when I travel. However, I remember that the camera was loaded with expired Fomapan 400, which was another lucky strike, as anything under 400 would have been not a good thing.
Got this picture here, to remind me of that grey and rainy day, and also on the fact that I got lucky with a shot which by all intents and purposes should not have been successful, but it was.