Why I Keep Submitting to that Damn Railpictures.net Site

by Aaron Hockley on July 5, 2007

Lots of folks love to bash Railpictures.net.  Sure, the site’s claims of being “The best railroad photos on the ‘net” are perhaps a bit ego-centric, but the reality is that they host a lot of photos, and like most other photo repositories on the internet, some of the photos are pretty good.  If you check out the most popular photos and the People’s Choice winners, you probably won’t be disappointed.

A lot of photographers won’t submit work to their site because they don’t feel the accept/reject judging is done correctly.  My attitude: who cares?  Do I agree with all of their decisions?  Of course not. I know whether or not I like a photo.  If I post it to their site, and they like it as well, then I get more exposure for my work.  If they reject the photo (for whatever reason), then I haven’t lost anything, and perhaps their reason for rejection could spur some thought.

I’ve sold a few photos to magazines based on exposure on their site.  And now they have twice chosen one of my pictures as their “Photo of the Week” featured on the site homepage.

So while some folks sit back and complain, I’ll take the free publicity.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

  • http://www.theboykos.com/nbrr/blog Steve Boyko

    I do complain about Railpictures, but I keep submitting too. :)

    My reasons for submitting are very similar to yours. It can’t hurt, and recently I’ve found that the thought of submitting to them has driven me to try for better photos. I know more than once I’ve thought, “OK, this one is going to Railpictures” :) Maybe it’s not the best motivation, but I’ll take anything to inspire me to try for better photographs.

  • http://www.adronbhall.com Adron

    I don’t complain, I just check out the awesome pictures. :)

  • http://www.railpixonline.com Kurt

    Acceptance standards there have gotten a lot tougher in the last couple years. I suppose it’s for the better, but it always feels like tough love whenever I get a rejection back. If it was the only place to put rail photos, I would be a lot angrier. If anything, the help I’ve gotten from the rejection reasons and from the integrated forums will probably make me a better photographer overall.

  • Done with RP

    I’m done with that site, and I’m glad. Call me sour grapes, bitter, a whiny complainer, just a crappy picksure taker, or WHATEVER; but that site completely sucks every last ounce of fun out of the hobby. Plus, why would anyone freely donate their images knowing that someone else is making a profit from it? Seems like a lose-lose situation for the submitter unless glory and peer adoration is their goal.

  • Hallejulah

    “I’m done with that site, and I’m glad. Call me sour grapes, bitter, a whiny complainer, just a crappy picksure taker, or WHATEVER; but that site completely sucks every last ounce of fun out of the hobby. Plus, why would anyone freely donate their images knowing that someone else is making a profit from it? Seems like a lose-lose situation for the submitter unless glory and peer adoration is their goal.”

    ———————————–

    Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

    Guess those folks who submit photos have NO issue with others making money off their work. And, some of the mutual “admiration” is sickening beyond words, especially since it doesn’t require much skill to shoot a 3/4 wedge shot on a sunny day. Most of those “photogs” are nothing more than GWC’s.

    Real photogs don’t post on that site.

  • http://www.oil-electric.com Robert in Port Townsend

    Giving up smoking and drinking was a snap compared to ditching that outfit! Railpictures can be described as an incessant succession of pictures, punctuated by moments of photography. It takes only a moment to scan through the endless monotonous nose shots of toaster ovens. And I really snarl at the creative dudes who plunk themselves down on a curve and shoot one train after another, ad nauseam. On the positive side, I enjoy seeing old electrics, steam and diesel from the Continent, Australia and U.K., and the occasional “old gold” from North America. At one time, I had more than 100 aged PGE and CNR posted up there, until I the inevitable run in with management. I found most folks, not all, that I contacted were pompous and self aggrandizing. Blogging is a lot more rewarding. And it is easy to pass one by the “Screener!”

  • Rail Car Fan

    Hallejulah says:
    April 6th, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    “I’m done with that site, and I’m glad. Call me sour grapes, bitter, a whiny complainer, just a crappy picksure taker, or WHATEVER; but that site completely sucks every last ounce of fun out of the hobby.

    ——————————————————

    No truer words have been spoken. About nine months ago I signed up and up-loaded several photo’s.. of which all were rejected. The reasons? Too dark, too light. Too much train, not enough train. Too rainy, not enough rain. Shot too high, shot too low. Foreground in focus, background not in focus. Foreground not in focus, background in focus. Etc., etc.

    It was like no matter how my photo’s were shot, I wasn’t able to satisfy the rigid parameters of the web site.. and no, I’m not the only one who complains about it either.

    Just like “Hallejulah” said in their above post.. “The web site sucks every last ounce of fun out of the hobby.”

    Rail Car Fan

  • Bryce Lee

    Like it or not, the site has the name.
    And, in the internet world the name is everything.
    Then too reference is to the site from other locations
    which reinforces the site as the primary and “best” source.

    Perhaps if there was another location where the so-called
    less than desirable images could be posted, as a general
    location.

    One other point. Large capacity web sites do cost money, especially
    those with high internet traffic.

    As such those who pay for the site, also sadly can direct the
    direction of the site, like it or not. And if I am not mistaken
    the reviewers are also the primary donaters to the site.

    The problem with personal blogs is finding them.
    Often, said blogs are also a one-person effort; hence
    the blog will reflect the abilities or lack of abilities
    of said personal blog. And also the frequency of postings
    will also reflect upon the blog.

    Dogcaught does work, is posted to regularly and reflects the
    work of the site owner.

Previous post:

Next post: