Copyrights 1999 – 2008
Maria Terezinha Vaz.
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Growing up in the countryside of Brazil listening to stories around the fire has a lot to do with the fascination and the passion I have for many things, one of them is trains, steaming trains, which was called, at that time when it ran in the heart of Brasil, Maria Fumaça.*

Every night my family would gather around the fire to tell or listen to all kinds of stories. Stories about the man who would swallow stones, the one who would swallow fire, the other one who would always trick the king from a very far land (Bogccagio), the era of discovery, the bible, stories about old civilizations such as Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, Greeks etc., stories about dead people who would come back to Earth to scare or to help the living, and stories about a time when Maria Fumaça would run the rails in the State of Minas Gerais, a time before I was even born.

My parents and some of our guests had a special way of telling stories that really triggered my imagination. I created my own world of railroads and steaming trains and I dreamed of it until I moved to California and discovered Roaring Camp Railroad where I could, for the first time, see and take a ride on an authentic Maria Fumaça.

Moving to California changed my life not only from the concept of being in another country or having to learn and speak a new language, but also promoted the union with my internal self and so it made me grow. I found myself able to pursue a career in the opposite direction I was in when living in Brasil. The way photography came to my life, I think it was meant to be. I met my beloved, who is the one who first told me about art photography as a career, a thing I was not aware of at all, and encouraged me to take classes. Thereafter I started to photograph Roaring Camp and that made it possible to have one of the subjects I dreamed of to be captured and so preserved through my photography.

As a photographer my challenge is to capture in my images the feelings of curiosity, mystery, fear, inspiration, passion, beauty, and love that photography has evoked from my childhood, especially the ones I have carried over these years in my night-day dreams that so greatly fascinate me.

The importance of photographing Roaring Camp does not consist only of the fact that it is through that place one of my dreams came true, but because of its historical importance. It is a California historical land mark. The photographs you see here are part of one of my projects of photographing historical places. I want to photograph every single space and aspects of Felton's Maria Fumaça; its railroad track, and its historical objects that have somehow with photography influenced, motivated, and changed my life. My intention is to help to preserve and promote it through photography because of its historical significance and so I am looking forward to having your comments, suggestions, and patronage.

These images were taken with a manual camera, Canon AE-1, 50mm lens. They are printed in full frame on Fiber based paper by myself, and are available for sale from post card size up to 11x14 sizes - please look at Color for more RC photographs. Please contact me if you would like to order or use any of my images or need to hire a photographer. I thank you very much so.

* Fumaça - As per the Oxford Portuguese/English, and English/Portuguese Dictionary, Fumaça means Smoke; however, "fumaça" can also be translated as "steam," and that is what the translation could be. Maria Fumaça is a nickname for a Steam Locomotive Train.

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