Brodie began posting photos from journeys on a website he created under the moniker "The Polaroid Kidd." He said he wanted to document a culture of people considered "punks" and "hobos" – people whom Brodie knew as writers, musicians, artists.

"I think I was seeing a lot of really unique and creative people and I wanted to capture them on film. I felt like, man, this is not going to last. I’m not going to live like this forever and[n] either are those people. I feel like I should photograph this. Like, this is like my job, I gotta do this."

Brodie's artist friends started spreading the word about his pictures online, and they immediately starting attracting attention. In 2007, Brodie won the Baum Award for American Emerging Artists in San Francisco, a $10,000 payday. He quickly called his mom, who was working at Wal-Mart.

Mike Brodie says rule number #1 for train hopping is that you DON'T actually hop off the train. You hold onto the handles and run alongside the train until it's safe to let go. — Mike Brodie says he chose to settle in West Oakland so that he could always hear the sounds of trains. (Shuka Kalantari/KQED)

"I didn’t really know what to do with the money. I was like, '$10,000. Oh my God. What am I gonna do with this!?' So I put all the money in my bank account and I called [my mom] and I told her to write herself a check. And she was like, “Are you serious, Mike?” And I was like, “Yeah. Just put: one, zero, comma, zero, zero, zero.' "

Brodie was happy to be able to help out his mother, but said he also hated the attention he was getting in the art world. So he took down his photography website and went back to riding trains. That is, until he found himself in prison in Sullivan, Ill. - for train hopping.

"I was in jail for only 10 days, but I [was] bored as hell. I was like, 'Man, this is no way to live. I’m just going to end up going to jail more. I don’t want to live in paranoia for the rest of my life, you know. Just traveling and doing this.' "

So he decided that instead of hopping trains, he'd learn how to work on them. He enrolled in diesel mechanic school, and after he graduated Brodie settled down in Oakland, because he said he has friends here and wanted to live near West Oakland's big train yard. Today Brodie rents out a large garage space with a few friends in West Oakland. In the front is his small mechanic shop.

In between working cars, Brodie recently published his first photography book. He said he was on the fence about making the book, because he hates the fame. But he wants future generations to know there was a unique culture of people called train hoppers.

"The Polaroid Kidd" makes his mark at Oakland's 5th Avenue Marina. — "The Polaroid Kidd" makes his mark at Oakland's Fifth Avenue Marina. (Shuka Kalantari/KQED)

"One hundred years from now, people will look back and look at this historical document and be like, ‘Wow, this was this time in history,’ " said Brodie. "That's meaningful. That goes beyond popular culture and being a popular person. It’s more like this is information that should be shared and saved for the future."

Brodie said he probably could have train-hopped indefinitely, taking pictures along the way. But that idea actually frightens him, as much as it entices him.

"You could kind of live that way forever, and that’s the scary part. I don’t really want to. I got to settle down and get a place of my own and make things happen. You can’t do those things if you’re traveling around the road. You can’t set down any roots and develop good relationships with people because every relationship is just so fleeting. It lasts a couple of days and then you’re gone."

Since settling down, Brodie has bought a dog and a car -- and he’s looking for a full-time job as a mechanic. But sometimes when he hears the freight train horns from his home in West Oakland, he says he thinks about jumping on the next train out of town.

the polaroid kiddthe polaroid kidd

The Train-Hopping 'Polaroid Kidd' Settles in Oakland, Publishes Book of Life on the Rails