Archive for March, 2007

In Part II George Barr discusses ways that a photographer can assess their technical and aesthetic skills.  One method he suggests is a method many of us railfans are familiar with and that is posting to Internet forums.  He also suggests peer reviews, and joining a club as other methods.  The one he recommended the most though is participating in a workshop that involves shooting followed by peer and instructor reviews.

For us railfans the usual outlet for online reviews are the forums at sites like Trainorders, Railroadforums, or other forums.  We also have the detailed (ahem) reviews we get at railpictures.net.  Despite people’s complaining about railpictures.net it certainly has its place and the feedback you get from there (however terse) certainly will give you an idea where your well lit wedgies stand. 

My favorite place for quality peer reviews lately has been Railroad Photo Essays.  The group there is hard hitting and honest, but what they say is constructive and if you listen (er read) carefully to their comments you’ll get the sort of feedback George talks about in his essay. 

One of the easiest was to post your ‘portfolio’ online at Railroad Photo Essays for feedback is to participate in one of the ‘Best Of’ Forums Bob puts up.  The last couple of years I’ve posted my best for the year and have received a variety of feedback.  What I’ve found interesting is how sometimes I receive little or no comment on the photo I think is the very best while something I didn’t think was the best of the show will get rave reviews.  Based on George’s essay, this is sort of feedback just one more way you can assess your skills against the levels presented in part I.

Has someone reviewed your portfolio lately?

For anyone not familiar with the Columbia River gorge here’s a photo of sorts of the ‘Home of GorgeRail‘.  GorgeRail will be held for the third consecutive year at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center which is situated just west of The Dalles, OR overlooking the Columbia River.  From various places on the property there are views of both the BNSF and UP tracks, including a large panoramic view of the north side of the river right out of the main hall.  Pictured is an eastbound UP manifest that is about to hit the beginning of double track at Crates.  The Discovery Center is in the brown buildings above the tracks and the grassy area around it contains exhibits related to the history of the gorge.

For those that have registered, I look forward to seeing you in May!  For those that haven’t, now would be the time to do so as seating is limited.

I read an interesting article on Luminous Landscape tonight that caused me to step back and look at my own photography.  The article is the first of a three part series about assessing the technical and aesthetic qualities of the photos you take.  Part two of the series promises to help guide the photographer through the levels and help them assess their current position while part three will make suggestions to help you move up through the levels.

I will hold off on sharing my assessment of myself until part two comes out.  Until then take a look at the article and start to think about your own photography.  Are any of you out there a 6, G?

Yep, I’ll admit it, I’m hooked on the CW 10.  The Chelatchie Prairie Railroad has operated this engine on monthly excursions since January and this weekend was March’s version.  If you live within a couple of hundred miles of Yacolt, WA and like steam, I firmly believe it is worth the effort to get there.  I should mention that you should buy your ticket early because the trains have good ridership.

CW 10 departs Lucia under the sure hand of engineer Jim Abney.

GorgeRail tickets have been on sale for about two and a half weeks, and we’re now about 40% of the way to selling out the theater. Have you ordered your ticket yet?

The intial response to the show announcement has been very widespread… we have folks registered from Florida, Illinois, Indiana, and a bunch from California.  Local folks better get their tickets soon

Once again, local railroad author Jesse Burkhart will be at our event selling/signing his books including a new book published in January.

Some folks representing the Oregon Operation Lifesaver group will be on hand as well.

I’m still battling some paperwork issues to get the group lodging secured, but we should have that situation wrapped up this week.

I’ve been working with the presenters to hone their shows and I assure you we have a great set of presentations in store. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

As Aaron indicated in his post several of us ventured into the Gorge last weekend.  The weather was pretty typical March weather up here, though we did have a bit of sun once we ventured east of Bingen.  With an approaching storm though the sun was short lived.  The good part of this was we tried a few new photo locations that I hadn’t visited before.

Yesterday was a fairly typical March day in the Pacific Northwest… gray, a bit chilly, with the threat of rain (that materialized in the afternoon).  Nonetheless I headed east with a few railfan friends for some Columbia River Gorge railroad action.  Gotta brush up on my local railfan skills before GorgeRail, ya know?

Here are a few shots from the day… even though the weather wasn’t cooperative, we had some nice power to work with on the trains we saw:

Pick some power; you’ll likely find it on the Z-PTLCHC at North Dalles

Look, Amtrak isn’t the slowest, most broke-down thing in the photo!
The locomotive on Empire Builder #27 passes an old truck at Hood.

I got sick of the Grinstein Green units in coal country but they’re a nice change of pace in the Gorge.
Stay tuned for some of Steve’s photos…

I’m planning a trip to the desert southwest later this year and I couldn’t help but browse through my photos from my 2004 trip there.  Within 10 minutes of the first photo, four trains passed this location at Fenner.  MOW had main 2 tied up, so the eastbound had to wait while three westbounds (two in the second photo) rolled past, oblivious to the work.  What an amazing operation the transcon is!  I’m looking forward to visiting again and enjoying the nice warm weather.