After a long date with pressure washer getting 2 years of dirt and mold
off my two story house, I open my Dispatch on Saturday.
Several have asked about what I would think. Well it obviously isn't
the quality it should be, but some of the images do have some value and
many could have been helped during production.
When I was in photo school, we had a rather vintage instructor who had
come from a German/Russian background (much like myself) so he said what
he thought...and often. Although photography itself (even at that time)
wasn't that difficult, when "Papa D" got hold of your week's assignment
it might come flying back to you with a few choice words, or rarely, be
praised with a good grade. I think we graduated about 25% of our
orginal class. So despite owning the latest camera and software things
we produce don't often set the world on fire. I've been there many
times. So let me begin:
Obviously all these photos were made by volunteers, so their work should
be honored as an attempt at fulfilling an assignment. Jeff, is only the
guy who can put stuff together--good or bad!
Some of the images were unevenly lit, while perhaps others should have
been. A couple are dark to the point of being an evening shot, but one
of those goes a long way usually. The big problem, as I see it (your
mileage might vary) is the lack of picking a subject. I related that to
Don Thompson years ago--we need to find a hero in the shot--hence the
reason a railfan would grab the camera and shoot this shot if he was a
1:1 railfan. Let me site an example...the dusk shot of the bottom of
page 11. Take your hands and form a circle that surrounds the signal
tower and engine. That circle should be about 3" x 5" in a vertical
format. That's now the hero shot. I really liked the colorful layout
plans on that spread. The rest of the photos could use either some
additional lighting (much perferred) or some heavy Photoshop work.
Bill Winans shot of the RGS engine leaving the tunnel, is a good example
of the proper hero to introduce the layout. With a bit of lighting it
could have been really special.
On to the Michigan S guys' layout--most everything was well lit and
composed nicely. I didn't see many technical issues. I would have
thought the S curve photo on page 8 should have been up front, although
I understand the award being important too. But we probably didn't need
everybody's butt on page 10.
As I see some guys getting ready for a drive-by, I'll only mention one
more example. Dave Held has some nice views. I've seen his layout at
an earlier time and shot a few views myself. Most of the views that
need help are due to technical issues--focus, contrast, color balance
and some strange pixel problems...(top of page 19! I really missed
some of those CN/GT passenger trains. Certainly liked the view at the
bottom of page 21..a natural scene that could have been shot in 1952!
Overall, one thing that I found interesting was a use of the SHS steam
engines in many of the shots. The lack of passenger trains was also
interesting--not necessarily a bad thing but interesting. And to Bill
Fraley--you and Frank look marvelous (said with an accent)!
Heading for the bunker now.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
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