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Robert Palmer wrote: > I prefer to see more of the > scene in which the train is operating and feel that the train should be > part of the picture, not the entire picture. For this reason, I have > always been luke-warm on some of Dave C's images. When I look at them I > feel frustrated because I keep wanting to see the mountains behind the > train, or more of the bridge that the train is crossing. Thanks for the input. I prefer the scene over the train too, and muck of my RR photography reflects it, but I haven't been putting that stuff up there because there are a lot like that and I was trying to break up the similar style shots on the page. I have also been known for long nosy telephoto shots, and people tell me that they like them, so I usually tried to fill out an odd space in a row with something different. In many of my shots with the train as a small component of the scenery, it almost gets lost at 600x408 pixels on a computer screen. I don't spend much time looking for my own shots for the SPORRS page because it takes enough time with everybody else's and I didn't make the SPORRS site to put my pictures on, but I can dig through some stuff when I get time. I tried to put up shots that were different from the rest, not what I think are my own favorite shots. Nothing looks worse than row after row of thumbnails, where the train is the same size in every shot, going the same angle and in the same direction in each one. Starts to look like little rubber stamps. That's one reason that I am redesigning the SPORRS web site during this month. Trying to get away from "Well, let's see what this one looks like". > An example is the > much-discussed BN 9274 air compressor shot. I like what the long lens does > to the bridge, but the train is just too close. And all those people used to tell me that I had a problem with 'premature shutter release'. :) > I would have preferred a > train-to-bridge ratio similar to the UP E-Unit shot on Dave's personal web > site. Verticals and bridges seem to work for some reason, don't you think? Especially a bridge structure like the Merchant's Bridge which is that tall. That's a horrible scan on that site, BTW, it's actually just an ad for the 500mm lens for sale there. > I have always admired Chuck's images. The sharpness of his scans is > incredible. I wouldn't mind hearing more technical stuff on how he does it. Any info on Lazerquick scan services that you can give us Chuck? They do a great job. I was shooting with Chuck in Kansas City recently. He is very considerate of what he frames up in his viewfinder. Very careful to "see" the whole scene around him while he is framing one up. Very observant. We drove around studying scenes and looking for good ones. We got some great end of the afternoon light one day and took advantage of it with several trains instead of moving and missing them. And we found a nice spot by the Santa Fe to sit and shoot the breeze with Keith Wilhite (Keith's computer is down at the moment) during 'high sun'. :) We got along very well. > >Don Bowen's Williams Loop shot looks a bit soft to me, but I'm > >wondering if that was caused by haze. > > I found the framing of the shot very distracting. With components of the > train hugging the left and right frames my eyes seemed to bounce between > the two like I was watching a tennis match from mid-court. I just looked at that one. I like it because it is so different, but I was starting to get dizzy during the tennis match. > One of my favorites among the recent postings is the SR 4610 shot. The > signal masts do a perfect job of framing the photo. The train waiting in > the siding with the conductor on the ground fill in the left side of the > shot nicely without distracting from the main subject. The green unit is > nice too, but I would still like the shot just as much if it were a > standard NS black unit. That is one of Dave Tiemann's favorite spots. I'll call him on the phone and tell him he has E-mail. :) If I had to pick favorites from last month, they would be: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs/kwburnside.htm or http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs/mlcn5401.htm because the photographers obviously saw a scene framed up that was disguised in a much more vast river valley or hillside, and they took advantage of it with the reflection angle off of the water of the surroundings with the focal length that they chose, and they made dynamic images. There are a lot of scenes hiding all around us, but you have to be observant to notice them, much less photograph them. I know what a scene like that looks like when you are standing there before it. It's easy to miss the trees for the forest. Unfortunately, there isn't a little rectangle or square drawn on each hillside or city where "the shot is". But then again, what fun would that be? However, my favorite shot from last month was: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs/rpamt805.htm even though I don't care for Amtrak all that much and I don't like graffiti and urban sprawl as much as more rural scenery in general, but I still have to go shot by shot when deciding this because I have no fixed favorite image ingredient, and I'm looking at the photography first and the contents as secondary. This shot says "Philly", and I've never been to Philadelphia, so the photographer put me there, and conveyed a feeling through his image that more than just a railfan can understand. I was waiting for a Philly beef and cheese sandwich to fall out of the screen. That makes this a photograph, and not just a railfan shot. Successful photographs make you feel something and they often put you somewhere or with something. If I have to ask myself what I am looking at, I find myself walking further down the gallery wall to the next one, or turning the page. Dave Cohen Photographer, Member ASMP Action Photographic Webmaster [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/home/ ======================================================= -> SPORRS: 'Serious Photographers Of Railroad Related Subjects' -> Web Site: http://www.anet-stl.com/acphotog/sporrs/ -> Message © 1998 SPORRS® - All Rights Reserved =======================================================
