Railfan photos with indigenous free-range women

Photo from internet:

Appleton, Wisconsin, circa 1890s. "Girls of the paper mills." Evidently taking a water break.

The freight car has a knuckle coupler but no air brake trainline.

F&PM - Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad. It was incorporated into other railroads in 1899.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...e_Marquette_Railroad

The sitting gal has a lot of frilly getup for working in a paper mill. Cold shoulders?

The going-away shot of a light engine move on the the (then) BN at Riverside, IL, in July, 1995.

My wife is at the far right in this shot taken at Snoqualmie, WA last month when we rode the train there.

Ace, good topic.  This is refreshing in light of the news and politics of the day.  Let the girls be girls and the boys be boys

I have never understood the typical railfan/foamer aversion to including people in a shot of a train. People in the shot add human interest, size perspective and visual interest.

People may block some detail, create a distraction, and give rise to questions that can't be answered:  "Who is that?"  (suppose you spent a day chasing trains, alone, or with a buddy, and later are going through them, with your wife, and up pops this close-up photo of some comely chick that seems close to and especially included in the photo, do you want to explain that?)

OGR Webmaster posted:

I have never understood the typical railfan/foamer aversion to including people in a shot of a train. People in the shot add human interest, size perspective and visual interest.

For me, I want to include as much stuff as I can to make a train shot look like a slice of life.

Fine if it's a modern train, but if it's steam, I want a photo like I'd take at a re-enactment where nothing modern is in it.

Funny thing, at the NRHS convention in Tacoma in 2011, there was a field trip to the Chehalis, WA steam operation. People were ticked that a member of the crew was oiling around while they tried to take their oblique shots before the convention trip departed. I thought that was sad because the guy not only was wearing historically correct stuff (no jeans of baseball cap), it was the guy who ran #15 in actual service and led the restoration effort! So most waited for him to walk away and missed a really good photo opportunity as next to no steam locomotives running today get crewed by someone who ran them back in the day.

Good stuff.  I'd rather see some women in the photos instead of a bunch of ugly old men any day

I agree with Rich.

This one is opening day of WMSR 2009 season. One of my favorites.

Ed

The only thing that drives me nuts when I'm taking photos of steam in environments like this is that you have two different types of people with cameras:

1. The train buffs looking to get the shot with minimal/no people
2. The random public guy who will go up to the siderods and just stand there staring at that bolt to see if he can move it with his mind? He isn't gonna move, so just get your shot with him standing there
3. The moms who have to stand their kid up next to the pilot to take their shots of a kid who, 99% of the time, couldn't care less

My issue is that the latter of the three will take FOREVER to get that shot and will stand the kid there for a long time with zero regard for anyone else who doesn't want her ankle biter in their shot... And you dare not ask them to move the kid when she's done with all the photos, because said Mom will often go berzerk on anyone asking that. I've seen this happen so many times, I couldn't count them all. Heck, I've seen Moms stage their kids in fornt of the locomotive so others will get the kid in the shot, like the kid is famous and TMZ called all the paparazzi in the area to the tourist RR. I've seen people yell to these moms, "Hey, we don't want photos of your kid and you're done, could you possibly get them out of our way so we can get shots now?" The response to that from the mom is never cordial.

The guy standing right in everyone's view will totally ignore the 20+ people standing there waiting for him (and it's always a him) to move.

I have never allowed train photography to interfere with taking a photo of a nice looking female. Some years ago I was in Rochester, Pa. along the NS mainline and a guy had two good looking gals in bikinis taking photos. I was totally unaware of any trains going past. But I understand p51s frustration but that is what women especially do.

All in all, I think having people in the shot adds interest.  If you don't want them, just clone them out.  Another trick is if the train is stationary but the people are moving slowly, put a heavy duty ND filter (e.g. 9-stop) on your lens and take a long exposure.  People will just disappear.

1. Chicago El 

2. Chicago Blue Line

3.  UP 844 blowing through Hiawatha KS

Kent in SD

No wimmen here, just us big galoots:

Rusty

jim pastorius posted:

Some years ago I was in Rochester, Pa. along the NS mainline and a guy had two good looking gals in bikinis taking photos.

A pal of mine does pin-up photos professionally (he's been published in lots of magazines over the years) and he's staged several shots adjacent to or overlooking RR tracks (he's careful not to trespass or put anyone in danger) and they're usually just wearing high heels. I've seen some of his shots and all I can think of is to wonder what the locomotive crews must be thinking in the cases where they can see what's going on.

"indigenous, free-range women".............funny !!

High heels and ballast-that would be interesting !!  A train crew would probably blow right through a red signal if they saw your buddy at "work".

How about 2 females.  My wife and daughter, Kearney, NJ 1977.

jim pastorius posted:

High heels and ballast-that would be interesting !!  A train crew would probably blow right through a red signal if they saw your buddy at "work".

Yeah, the guy I know is a train buff and he says he never does these shots near a grade crossing or block signal, just in case.

Gotta respect that, I think.

p51 posted:

The only thing that drives me nuts when I'm taking photos of steam in environments like this is that you have two different types of people with cameras:

1. The train buffs looking to get the shot with minimal/no people
2. The random public guy who will go up to the siderods and just stand there staring at that bolt to see if he can move it with his mind? He isn't gonna move, so just get your shot with him standing there
3. The moms who have to stand their kid up next to the pilot to take their shots of a kid who, 99% of the time, couldn't care less

My issue is that the latter of the three will take FOREVER to get that shot and will stand the kid there for a long time with zero regard for anyone else who doesn't want her ankle biter in their shot... And you dare not ask them to move the kid when she's done with all the photos, because said Mom will often go berzerk on anyone asking that. I've seen this happen so many times, I couldn't count them all. Heck, I've seen Moms stage their kids in fornt of the locomotive so others will get the kid in the shot, like the kid is famous and TMZ called all the paparazzi in the area to the tourist RR. I've seen people yell to these moms, "Hey, we don't want photos of your kid and you're done, could you possibly get them out of our way so we can get shots now?" The response to that from the mom is never cordial.

The guy standing right in everyone's view will totally ignore the 20+ people standing there waiting for him (and it's always a him) to move.

I would PAY for a place where there is a photo line without distractions!

There is a place for photos WITH and WITHOUT humans!

BANDOB posted:

Albuquerque, NM. 

 

 

Have you seen Bugs Bunny?  He does come through ABQ?

Cable cars have a grip on like!

BANDOB posted:

Cheyenne, WY. 

 

 

UP has good roadbed;  its still on the tracks!

Dominic Mazoch posted:

BANDOB posted:

Cheyenne, WY. 

 

 

UP has good roadbed;  its still on the tracks!

You know I'm a train nut. I'm wondering how many miles that engine has traveled ! ? !!

Nice jeans. what train ??