Hello!
The new and improved Trackside with Trains.com is now live on TrainsMag.com. This week,Trackside with Trains.com Volume 81 features your old friend Mike Yuhas in addition to Trains magazine associate editor Andy Cummings.
Click here to vote.
Add your comments about this week’s photos here.
Thanks! Erik
Two excellent images!
For me, the inclusion of the grafitti-cover boxcar ruined the otherwise wonderful shot of rural railroading. Perhaps a bit of zoom and shift to the left (to place the farm more towards the left-third spot) would have done it.
Mike’s shot looks really cool. What does it for me is how the train is illuminated so well (almost reminds me of O. Winston Link). And I really liked the contrast between the dark sky and the locomotive.
Mike gets the vote this week.
And Mike, btw, I LOVED that shot with the ultra-blue sky!!! (the one you didn’t use)
Welcome Andy. You made the voting a little harder, since I do like your choice a lot, but had to go with Mike’s, since it almost looks like a great painting. Very impressive, Mike!
Mookie
A decent night shot is tough to come by. The shot Mike put up (IMO) is a very good shot. I like the balance of color and it’s “late night” feel. Kudos to Mike for that picture!
Andy’s CNW heritage shot showed a typical setting for a CNW line: EMD power through farm country. I’m not being blase in any sense, FWIW. That picture ‘fit’ with it’s mix of farm, RR, and scenery.
All that being said…I had to go with Mike’s shot for the vote. Night shooting is tougher to pull off well and he sure did it. Catching the 1995 tho would have been a treat. Great job both of you!
Ow!
I hate when this happens.
They’re both great shots, both “speak” to me. My avatar locomotive is in Andy’s shot; many images from my past come up in Mike’s shot, including what I assume was a warm night breeze moving the weeds.
Sorry, Andy, you’re taking on the reigning champ, since Erik abdicated. Mike gets the coin-toss.
Maybe I’m just an overly technical photographer, but both shots to me were nice, but lacked…er…“polish” maybe?
Andy, I really, really liked your shot and it’s rural charm but it just seemed soft on my monitor. Did you use USM when you resized it for the web? There’s definately enough DOF so it’s not a focus problem. It doesn’t seem like motion blur or anything like that. It just doesn’t have the snap I look for.
Mike, I really had a tough time with your shot. I like it, but the lens flare and the noisy sky just kept drawing my attention away from the shot. I see you shot at 47mm. If memory serves me correctly, I think you have an EF 50mm f1.8 in your lens arsenal. If that is the case, you might think about using it instead of a zoom for situations feauturing strong, direct lighting like this. Again if memory serves me, the 50mm f1.8 is a simple 4 element Tessar derived design. With good lens coatings, and very few air spaced elements, flare should be much better controlled.
In the end, I tried to focus on the emotional impact of the shots. I really like the rural charm that Andy’s shot conveyed, so that’s where my vote went.
Yes, Chris, you’re right – if I was actually thinking, I would’ve used the 50mm f1.4 fixed focal length lens. Lesson learned [:I]
Ahh… you’ve got the 1.4…Erik must’ve had the 1.8. The 1.4 is a Double Gauss with 7 (IIRC) elements, so it’s not as simple as the Tessar derived design but should still be a little better at flare control than most zooms.
…I vote for the CN night shot of Mike’s. It is a nice rendition of night photography.
Andy’s wide view of train passing out in the country is very nice. I happen to like the results of special efforts of night photos, and must choose between the two.
Mike, I would’ve gone for yours were it not for the lead engine in Andy’s shot (see avatar). I don’t have the critical eye and knowledge that Chris does, and I thought both shots were excellent.
Both good shots…
The new player is giving you a run for the money right out of the box, Mike!
Hard choice, but Mike’s just squeaked out a little ahead…the surreal look to it made it seem a lonely job working its way home…
Hmmm. I should make the prepublication conference-lunch with Mike and the week’s opponent-a regular event. This week we are asked to choose between two excellent photos, but each of a very different photographic style. Makes for kind of a tough call.
I went with Andy’s. I happen to like photographs of railroads in a more scenic setting and his emphatically says “This is Wisconsin”.
Oh yes, for Andy, welcome to the “Clash of the Cameras”. No doubt the competitive rush is right up there with your past life as a Double O. [:D]
Uhhh…Jay…wasn’t this week’s competitor Andy and not Jason? [%-)]
With what was left of the sunlight from the left, it almost looks like Mike hired some floodlights for the night shot. Makes for a very sharp contrast. I am wondering how much longer after this shot that light was available…couldnt have been too long. Timing is everything in this shot, and once again patience and dedication to the art of railroad photography pays off…at least, with my vote.
I likes Andy’s photo also. If the first car behind the engines had been a covered hopper, or better yet, if the angle was such that it looked like a grain train passing in front of the soon-to-be harvested corn, it would have been a more difficult harded decision.
Actually, JS, it was lit up like that all night – what you see on the side of the SD40-3 is light from the nearby factory, not old Sol.
Say now…a train with a single engine…and a four axle unit to boot! Wow!! Nice composition + lighting + subject = a photo that you can look at for more than 3/100ths of a second. Neat! Thanks Mike. [:)]
Welcome Andy, and welcome back Mike.
As much as I’d like to vote for an upper-midwesterner (I’m originally from North Dakota), I had to give Mike’s shot the “X”. What a fascinating study. To be completely honest, I liked his other night shot even better.
Andy’s photo was nicely composed, but nothing really jumped out that shouted “I’m outstanding, vote for me”. I hope he’ll return to the competition from time to time because he seems to have a lot of potential.
TJB / Nashville, TN
Well now! This endeavor is off to a great start! What super choices we have this week! Two great photos are before us. As another writer noted, though, the echo of O. Winston Link in Mike’s shot is strong. Nevertheless, Mike’s work stands tall on its own, and gets my vote this time. That despite my usually favoring “train in the landscape” shots. And Andy’s photo is a beauty. Thanks to both of you.
Mike gets the vote…absolutely the best thing he has done since I started reading the column!
I LIKE ANDYS PHOTO AS WE DONT GET MANY LIKE IT AND WITH THE SPECIAL ENG ON THE NOSE IT REALLY IS SPECIAL. KEEP UP THE GOOD START ANDY.
DEPOT