On Fri, 5 Dec 1997 08:56:39 -0600, Jim Gilley wrote:
>OK, I'll keep this short, lest I be accused of being off topic...
>
>Is it just me, or do all railfan-oriented publications (books and
>mags) suck these days? Now before you flame me, let me elaborate.
>
...deletia...
>The reason I mention this, is that IF you, as I, conclude that most
>magazines and books suck, then what are you to do with your efforts,
>other than let them rot in your slide boxes? I've given up writing
>articles (I know some of you are cheering), because I'm tired of them
>looking so mediocre after having put so much effort into them. I'm
>tired of seeing my shots in half-assed books, and this too shall
>end, as I will no longer support these efforts.
To which Warren replies...
I am an amateur photographer and eager to share my work with others
interested in the railroad hobby. I DO NOT care to spend a lot of time
printing, labeling, and mailing material to prospective publishers just
to have it disappear into a black hole. It's obvious that any
publisher would not use more than just a few of my photos, but when I
include a liberal amount of return postage and never see my prints
again, then I lose interest quickly. Some of the books for which I
have submitted photos have never been published!
I thought that the World Wide Web would be a perfect vehicle for
sharing my railroading experiences. Maybe it will be someday. As of
now, the average foamer just doesn't have enough computer power to
download lots of graphics. The advantage of the Web is that I can
layout my own articles, and no material is wasted on speculation that
it may be published.
A couple months ago, Todd Clark invited me to submit photos for posting
on his server. I put together a simple layout of a one-day fantrip and
uploaded the material to his site. I invite all of you to view it at:
http://www.trainorders.com
There were no rules, no pixel dimensions that had to be adhered to, and
no 40KB file on how to submit articles. He just provided a place that
I could "publish" my article in whatever form I cared.
So there. I am now a "Web-published" photographer, and I thank Todd
for the opportunity. I have a second article in the proofreading
stage, and I hope to have it on the server before Christmas.
I hope we will see more of this Web sharing in the future. As I said
above, the limiting factor in today's world is the computing power of
the readers. That should improve as time goes on.
Later,
Warren
-> Web Site: http://home.att.net/~acphotog/sporrs/sporrs.htm
-> SPORRS: Serious Photographers of Railroad Related Subjects
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