I just flipped my Union Pacific calendar one page too far yesterday when changing the month, and I noticed the really killer shot for the month of November by someone named Olev Taremea. Nice and artsy; my kind of shot. Good backlit silhouette profile with minimal lens flare. Then I noticed the horn bolted on backwards! Nothing like an innovative and efficient company moving forward. I would have flipped it around in Photoshop. (The horn, not the corporation). :)
Here is some food for thought for the foundation of this list. The photographers. You bolt counters, train spotters, historians and symbol loggers will be lost after the next few sentences. Backlit images. I know that some of you don't care for them. "What's one man's trash is another man's gold". Or the inverted version. Perhaps no style or category of railroad imagery is more controversial. You've got your basic 'pastel' overcast drudgery and your night shot 'light in the darkness' exemplifications of creativity in an otherwise sea of sunny day (used to be) mostly Kodachromes, to add 'contrast' or 'snap' to the admittedly otherwise commonplace wedgie variations and that occasional broadside that fill our slide shows and fan magazines. Possibly it is because they are more difficult to accurately portray on paper that we shy away from submitting or even shooting such contrasty images, but I have seen some real art content derive from this type of dramatic light usage. We are photographers. After all, it is admitting creative defeat to forgo recording a certain type of image before us on film that looks so spectacular to us in person merrily because we are intimidated by the exposure latitude range or uncertain of the results. And certain films will help contribute to the success of these results or they will induce failure from all but the most carefully planned compromise. But this is why we all have different film choices available to us. When dramatic lighting is used with taste and sparingly, I believe that we can inject even more 'punch' and variety to our railroad photography and presentations by bringing our viewers and audiences deeper into the realm of real world railroading in the great outdoors. We can bring our viewers to a distant location and pull them into the picture with our scene. We can do this with forethought and creativity and add impact and interest to our work with dramatic images, or we can 'jostle' the viewer back to reality of into another season with the shock of your favorite bright white snow scene immediately following the deep tones of that great sunrise or sunset silhouette from last month. It is a shame to judge and 'rate' a photographer on only one image type. Especially if it is a type that you personally choose not to include in your style or agree with. No one wants to sit through a whole carousel of 'contrasty' backlit shots, but when used in conjunction with other images or to tell a story or set a mood, this 'mistake' or 'trash' to some can make the difference between a lasting impression and just another barrage of trains flying by on predictable sunny weekends. How many ways is there to watch a train go by and how many of those ways that you can think of have you captured on film. Think about this for a minute and where you have been recently. I bet you just got at least one new idea. With respect to our own hobby, how many 'correctly' lit 'formula' pictures can we handle without losing interest or becoming so consumed in our own quests for 'perfection' that we loose all sight of what we set out to create to begin with? Which brings me to just that: What is it that we are trying to create; pictures to please everyone else, or images that we ourselves enjoyed creating and reliving in memories each time that we view them again? I was digging through some of my older shots recently and looking for the 'artsy' ones for a project. I found quite a few more than I thought I had. For some reason I remember where I was, what I was doing, how cold or hot it was and who I was with when I shot them. And I can't label my sunny Santa Fe (Oops, BNSF) shots from last month without playing back my taped notes already. I enjoy the bulk of the tastefully done "Ooh, it's so orangy" shots that I see in slide presentations, and I know that you all have your own favorite styles and admirations. Whatever they are, I hope you don't let other's opinions and preconceptions limit you from recording them on film if you wish. Looking for something new when you go out to shoot? Imposing self inflicted limits on your own potential or taking too much stock in other's opinions won't get you there. And the term "specialized creativity" is an oxymoron. You won't shoot it because you said that you don't like "that kind of shot"? Can you be that confident of what the images that you didn't shoot would look like? And you have a personal library of failed attempts at these types of images to prove your point? Striving to be "selectively creative" is a contradiction of terms. Specialization is a business practice. I'm looking for striking scenes through my viewfinder to convert to images. I can't get too enthusiastic these days about dragging the gear out again just to go add to the last fifteen years worth of 'standard' shots, but by remaining observant of my surroundings and looking for something different when I do go out, railroad photography remains and interesting exercise in creativity for me. And what other primary reason can we state as our motivation for returning trackside time and time again? On a closing note, isn't it amazing how we continually hear about the railroads being 'filled to capacity', yet we can wait all afternoon and watch the rails rust? Damn, almost strayed into another subject matter. Nit-picking is surely another topic entirely. And one best practiced by the nit's original creator. :) Regards, Dave Cohen Photographer [EMAIL PROTECTED] --> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
