I don’t do a lot of senior pictures, but I do enough that I try to keep tabs on what the current trends are. In the past two or three years, I’ve noticed that a lot of the outdoor senior picture crowds are using railroads for backdrops. This is one that I noticed today (not a pro shot, but I’ve seen plenty of pros doing it, too):
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=36256043
It’s definitely a scary trend in the business…
Thankfully he didn’t tie her to the rails!
My take is using a mainline railline is too dangerous [ EXPECT A TRAIN ANYTIME!]
*( witness the ‘ghosthunter’ killed recently at 1-2 AM by a light engine move that caught their group in the middle of a high stone bridge in N.C. on NS line west of Statesville).
Two years ago over in SE Kansas there was a Wild Animal Refuge that had some very large cats;{Tigers} they had developed a photography operation that was very popular among the local High School graduation crowd, (Graduation Photos taken with a Large Tiger next to the graduating senior for the Yearbook).
It was common for the photographer to warn the students to sit perfectly still while the Tiger was posed and then it would be removed, It was done safely for several years until one young lady was posed barefoot next to the Tiger, which at some point licked her foot; Tickled, she screamed! Where upoon the Tiger attacked and killed her. The tiger was inmmediately put down and the practice stopped. Enter the lawyers, and the story continues.
The point being WHY do the kids find it necessary to pose in situations that besides being somewhat picturesque, potentially out right dangerous. Is this something going on all over or is just isolated instances?
I agree with Chris, it is defini
There may be a redeeming element to the photograph appearing in CopCar’s attachment.
Reading the material accompanying the main image, I get the impression that what we actually have here is a composite photograph produced by something called “Microsoft ICE.” The photographer, in effect, has superimposed the image of the sitting girl onto the image of a railroad track, a portion of which is in focus.
Although it’s a clever picture, I don’t think we’ll ever see it in any “Operation Lifesaver” promotional materials.
Incidentally, the girl definitely does convey an image of being depressed. But then again, episodes of “teenage anxiety” are all part of growing up.
I’m not a country fan, but IIRC, there have been several country albums recently that featured the artist posing on some tracks. One might wonder if the kids (or their parents) aren’t trying to replicate that.
Not that some pop/rock artists may not have done the same thing.
I think it was mostly coincidental that a wedding party posed adjacent to the tracks in Owosso, MI as the photo line was awaiting the return of NKP765 from the all-day trip on Saturday.
Bob,
This isn’t a normal cut and paste job.
In fact the technique being used is actually worse than a simple snapshot of the girl on the tracks. What’s happening is that the photographer is taking several images and stitching them in a panorama. The intended effect is to give a shallower depth of field as if using a medium or large format camera.
The downside is that it takes awhile to get all of those shots. I’m guessing the model had to sit in the same place in the same pose for half a minute or more while the photographer took all the shots to assemble the panorama stitch. With the focus of both the model on her pose and the photographer on getting all the shots for a successful stitch, there’s even less attention being paid to any potential rail activity…hence my declaration that this is even worse than a normal shot.
This happens all the time at the Amtrak station in Omaha. I never noticed it until about two years ago, and now it’s become a very common occurrence. Some people are pretty responsible and stay off the tracks, while others throw caution to the wind. Something will probably come of this eventually, which I fear will be the banishment of everybody, including railfans, from the train station when Amtrak isn’t there.
I don’t like the idea, either. I believe a similar subject came up on Trainorders.com a few years ago, in which a young family (IIRC) was posed on the tracks. I believe that the name of the studio was given to the local police, the railroad police, and Operation Lifesaver. The shots were soon removed from their website.
If they pasted the girl and the furniture on the picture of empty tracks, two could play at that game–photoshop a locomotive and an appropriate amount of exhaust behind her!
Was shoving around a blind curve last year and there were people set up taking grads. Boy did I rip him a new one. Jumped off that boxcar and just embarrassed the hell out of all of them.
First of all, this isn’t just a country music thing.
Musicians posed on railroad tracks has been a glamor photo shot for frickin decades man. Not new.
Posed senior pictures though I don’t know about.
In either case, I see a whole lot of assumptions here about the potential danger with no expressed knowledge of where this really is.
Obviously it isn’t legal, and I by no means want to encourage anyone to break the law, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the people in that photo are well aware of the dangers they may face. The guy was shooting handheld his daughter and a chair. Its not like there was a mass of equipment to move or something to slow them down should a train approach.
Also, do we know for a fact that they did not seek permission to be there or that in fact all pros that do these shots don’t also seek permission?
I’m sure some don’t, but I’d be very surprised if many did seek permission.
I’ll bet a box of donuts permission was not granted or even attempted.
If they have no business on the tracks, then they should not be on the tracks, PERIOD.
I disagree. Even if there’s not a lot to worry about, they’re still focused on the senior shoot, especially given the complex nature of the image being produced. Yeah, most times they’d be able to figure out a train was approaching and get out of the way, but why risk it for a senior portrait?
Additionally, I’d agree that it’d be fine for the photographer if he or she had permission from the railroad, but I really, really have my doubts that any railroad would give their blessing to these types of shots.
I have noted an Amtrak station agent go on his PA system to advise observable but careless passengers, awaiting a train, to remove themselves to “behind the yellow” line. Nothing like a little public “humiliation” to graphically educate.
Did anyone read the comments on the DP site? There was one posted on 9/7 at 3:56pm where the photographer describes how he did it–the item which caught my railroad eye was that he took 70 (!) photos of that scene–I bet that took a while!
And on top of all of the safety and legal issues, it is not a very inspiring or even interesting shot.
All that risk for nothing…
Yes, I find this disturbing, and no, I did not read the comments, but I believe the picture may have been Photoshopped. and I’m hoping it was.
Look closely at the girl in the picture and do a take on her body posture. Do look closely at her face, the position of her feet, and other factors. What I see is not a happy graduate but a girl who has a low opinion of herself and doesn’t care to face life as an adult. That’s become all too common in the last twenty years or so.
Our youth seem to have little conception of living a long life. That I find extremely distressing because they represent the future. Today, and what they will do at the moment is most important. A lot of them have no idea of saving for a rainy day or retirement… I find this very sad.
I don’t have children, but if I did and one of them asked for that photo on a mainline I would be jailed for child abuse.
It is very interesting to me to read all the opinions of the matter. We each seem to approach it from a slightly different perspective, although I think we mostly agree that it generally ain’t a good idea if it were the real McCoy.
I see a young lady who is not necessarily unhappy about herself, but more unhappy with her circumstances. Either that, or she is ‘faking’ the look because it must be trendy these days. A new form of ‘Goth’ or something…who knows. But to me, she looks bored, maybe tired, hung-over, or peeved that something is taking too long…not sure. But I think few young people these days, with the narcissism that they are encouraged to develop from kindergarten, are going to be enduring low self-esteem.
-Crandell
Here in Pierre, SD, many of the photographers would pose their clients on the DM&E Missourri River RR bridge here in town. It was not uncommon to see dozens of pictures using the bridge as a back ground.
DM&E caught wind of this and sent out a notification to the area photographers that the bridge was private RR property and if they were caught on it, they would be charged with tresspassing. I think they also placed an add in the local paper to that effect.
Dave in Pierre, SD
She has high self-esteem, but it has been artificially instilled by the education system, rather than earned by her. True self esteem needs to be earned. Artificial self-esteem backfires and results in insecurity rather than confidence. Such insecurity leads to a sense of being victimized. The core of this self-victimization is not taking responsibility for your own actions. The railroad track symbolizes the risk of her self-victimization. Since self-made victims blame everybody else for their plight, she is challenging the viewer to take responsibility for placing her at risk.
Maybe, she’s just a good actor?
I wonder how people would view this, if the background was the middle of an interstate highway>
She probably is an actor and that’s “style” in pop culture. But I think both Crandell and Bucyrus nailed it right, clinically speaking, in regard to narcissism and self-esteem.