"Front three quarters in countryside"

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John Ashworth
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"Front three quarters in countryside"

Post by John Ashworth »

A few interesting UK rail photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdeaves/ , but what I found most interesting was the photographer's tongue in cheek introduction to this web page on his own website ( http://deaves47.users.btopenworld.com/rail_index.htm ), where he says:

'You will find a small collection of my railway photographs here. I hope that you find them enjoyable and a little different to the usual "front three quarters in countryside" views.'

Grist to the mill of those of us who like to tease the serious railway photographers about their obsession with the perfectly posed (and usually identical) shots of the locomotives in freshly-gardened countryside (good thing the environmentalist lobby hasn't cottoned on to railway photographers yet otherwise we'd have direct action by green activists against the hordes of blokes with step ladders and long lenses hacking down lineside vegetation) with not a person nor natural feature to be seen and with huge clouds of unrealistic black smoke (ever tried cleaning the fire after a few photographic run-pasts?)!

There is a serious question here, though, which has been the subject of a number of discussions over tea at Capital Park. Maybe there are two schools of thought? One seems to be that the environment must be prepared in advance for a pre-planned perfectly posed photo. The other is that the art of photography is to compose a picture with whatever is available. Presumably most people fall somewhere on a spectrum between these two extremes?
Kevin Wilson-Smith

Post by Kevin Wilson-Smith »

John, this is an interesting subject and finally enough something that I’ve often thought about.

I’m sure that given careful thought a long essay on the subject could probably be produced!

My feeling is that both situations may apply.

Firstly, I believe that a prepared photo shoot is acceptable ONLY if we are trying to photograph heritage equipment in any historical setting and manner. Let me explain further what I mean here.

What I am not talking about here, is a situation where we say, that I’m going to take a photo of heritage stock, and since it is heritage stock it must be in a historical setting, and therefore I am going to create a historical setting. I believe that this approach is wrong, as the heritage stock is running today and many interesting photos can in fact be taken of the stock in a modern setting.

However, situations do also rise (which I am in agreement with), where a conscious decision is made to undertake what is best termed a historical photo shoot using heritage equipment. In this particular instance every effort would be made to photograph the historical equipment in an era that has passed – in other words people would dress accordingly, period vehicles would be sought for nearby roads, and the setting would be chosen carefully so that no modern buildings or equipment includes upon the photograph. In this particular situation one would be trying to almost use a time machine to go back. That’s OK by my books, and fun!

In the case of modern equipment, or equipment currently in use, I do not believe that making any great effort to try and cosmetically improve the environment is correct. My opinion is that trains should be photographed in the environment that exists and that at the time the photographer should make every effort to make certain that the photograph is composed, and interesting, given the elements that are present.

This after all is what photography is about!

We also need to remember that photographs are a record not only of the present, but as the years pass, in the future they become records of the past! And, as records of the past, it is important that they are accurate in relation to the situation that pertained at that particular time.

For the moment, I rest my case!
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John Ashworth
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Post by John Ashworth »

Kevin, I agree with you completely.

The staged heritage event is perfectly valid. Many UK preserved railways stage World War II weekends, for example, where everyone dresses up in period costumes and they bring in authentic military and road vehicles and everything. I've also seen Victorian weekends. Also, a number of them have selected a period (1950s, say), and their stations, signalling, loco and coach livery, etc all reflect that period. In South Africa I suppose we do that when we run a mixed train of suburban coaches and a milk wagon to Cullinan behind a 19D or a 15CA.

What I (and a number of the non-photographic members at Capital Park) fail to understand is the obsession with cutting down lineside vegetation. I'm told by photographers, "But we must see all of the wheels!" I reply, "Why?" If you want a picture of the wheels take one in Capital Park where they are naturally clearly visible. If you want a picture of a train in location X, then take it as you find location X, with or without wheels.

I also fail to understand the obsession with black smoke. It looks impressive, but it is very unrealistic, especially when the loco is coasting downhill with a light load. We are taught that excessive black smoke is a sign of bad firing, yet photographers seem obsessed with recording for posterity locos being badly fired!

I agree with you on the historical record aspect. This has been the subject of discussion in various fora, including the Railway Magazine in UK a couple of years back, particularly since the advent of digital photographs which can easily be enhanced, edited and altered. Historians in 100 years time may look at a photo and say, "This proves there were no overhead electric wires on such and such a line in August 2007" when in fact the wires were simply edited out by a steam enthusiast. Such obvious mistakes might not be made, but photographs showing a complete absence of lineside vegetation (but definitley proving that the trains do in fact have very visible wheels!) may make future generations wonder why British railways have such a problem with trains slipping on leaves during the autumn!
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