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Wes,
Here's my offering, find the details below.
Photo By: Frank J. Caron
Location: Brisbane, Ca.
RR: Union Pacific "Dump Lead"
Date: 06/24/02
Camera: Canon Powershot G2
Lens: 35mm @ Macro
Aperature: f4
Shutter: 1/200
Resolution: 2272 x 1704
Comments:
My original intent was to shoot the industrial lead, while I was walking
along the track I noticed various details that I felt would make
interesting images with this broken rail being one of them.
Frank Caron
| Critiques |
|---|
Sam Reeves:
Amtrak Frank here is getting very artsy with this photo. Some people
shoot naked people in low key, some shoot bell peppers in low key (ala
Edward Weston), but here Frank has given it the railroad treatment. I
love the detail and the grit of the old rail, plus the tangent is broken
by the gap in the rail. This is what Weston would shoot if he liked
railroads! Excellent job, even if it is digital...
Wes Carr:
I like the abstract quality of this photograph a lot. It reminds me of
Edward Weston's photographs of peppers... Frank's composition and use of
"extreme close-up" framing has given this shot of a broken rail a very
abstract and surreal quality. The viewer may not even realize it's a
railroad photograph. It's amazing how much detail there can be on the
head of a rail that hasn't seen the passage of a train in some time.
Frank's photo shows that there's an amazing amount of texture to
something that I commonly tend to think of as smooth and glassy... but
then, when I think of rail heads, I tend to think of main line rail, not
a dilapidated branch or spur.
Steve Crise:
Not enough information in the frame to make it interesting for me. Without
the support of text and the knowledge that this is somehow related to
railroading, the average viewer would be hard pressed to figure out whets
going on here. Something else in the frame needs to say "railroading" or
"track" I feel would be necessary to make this image work for me.
Mike Johannessen:
I think Frank's shot is the most unique. I like it. It shows an element of
the railroad very often overlooked. The exposure and contrast makes the
railhead stand out, which makes the fracture the main element. I never would
have even thought to take such a photo. Also, I like the fact that the shot
is not very complicated, and that it represents something that could have
happened anywhere at just about any point in time. It's certainly not one of
those shots that, even without a caption, basically says, "Here's the Z-train
climbing up the west slope of the Buttwrench Range."
Paul Birkholz:
This is a nice detail shot of what I perceive to be an old broken rail due
to the rust. However, I would have needed the caption info to know what it
is exactly if I had not seen it before. I like the texture of the rail and
the contrast between it and the shadows.
I liked the other 5 shots you presented before more than this one though
which probably isn't a fair comparison in this forum. If I was shooting
this I think I would have zoomed out a bit to show more of the rail if that
was possible.
or
Sam Reeves
Frank and I were chatting on CyberRails recently and I told him that I
usually don't even notice details like this (the broken rail and the
rail's texture) when I'm out shooting. And even when I do notice them,
I usually don't take the time to document them to film. Frank's photo
is proof to me that it's worthwhile to take notice of the smallest
details in railroading, and to photograph them.
WSC
Steve Crise
Mike Johannessen
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