Once again I find the new pic to vote on and the topic for the first time, in the weekly Trainsnewsetter here. But nothing in the Forums! So, not able to comment. And don’t know what next theme is. Am I the only one with this problem?
You are not alone!
It shows up, goes away…week or two shows up, goes away for a month…
I would love to submit a photo or two, but can’t because I don’t know the theme, or when it will show up again.
Maybe you have to belong to the “club”?
But I thought if we got this far into the bowels of these forums we were “in” the club!
Recognizing that the feature started out as a friendly competition between a couple of staffers, then morphed into a slightly more open competition, but still with a cast of regulars (and one “outsider”), perhaps it’s time to morph again into something more open. Not “juried,” but something easy for the staff to work with - instead of picking one, pick 4 or 5 at random (as long as they meet the well-publicized theme) and put the survey on-line.
We already know there are some “fair to middlin’” photographers here, so the competitions would certainly be interesting.
The trackside thing seems tired and old. Just a shell of what it once was - and now it’s not even featured in the same spot from week to week. I understand there are 56,000 other things to take care of on the trains.com website - so I wonder how it even got this far (199).
I have never quite understood the need for a theme. Is the contest judged on how well the photo matches the theme—OR—on how good the photo is from a technical and artistic standpoint?
You might say that it is judged on both, but say you have two photos; one fits the theme best, and the other one is the best technical and artistic shot. Which one wins?
Or perhaps the theme is only intended as a guidepost and fitting the theme is not part of the judging criteria. Has this ever been clarified in the rules?
I see that dilemma in many photo contests. Many times the photo which best fits the theme (IMO) is passed over for a shot that may, well in the case of trains.com, is a better railfan shot. How many in-cab shots have won these trackside contests for that reason alone?
I see it as a way to cut back on the possible submissions, whether staff or reader.
If the theme is, say, switches, then potential submitters are either going dig through their archive for a suitable shot, or perhaps go out and shoot one at a location they recall and can reach without a cross-country trip.
The key, of course, is to submit a shot that is artistic/attractive/unique. Given the choice of an image with a human interest bent (say, a crewman throwing a switch on a foggy morning) vs one of a common switch stand just standing there, I think most would tend to vote for the human interest shot. I might have a snowy shot of the ladder track at Steamtown I think would make a good candidate. Or not.
And if the theme is ‘switches,’ it would tend to rule out that 3/4 wedge shot of an SD-whatever rolling through pretty scenery, which seems to be a hallmark of some submitters, no matter what the theme.
I understand the time issue the trains staff has - they’ve mentioned it themselves.
But given ample notice of a theme, it should only take a few minutes to weed out the obvious non-contenders and randomly pick some for a competition.
However, i
Theme doesn’t bother me…but rarely does a group of pictures actually represent the theme in my estimation. This time–the holidays–is the same. A steam engine in the snow, a snow man on a whistling post, a red engine covered with snow? The only real holiday picture has to be Eric’s with the train CP Christmas train adorning the top to Tunkhannock Viaduct in Nicholson, PA on its way from Scranton, PA to Binghamton, NY…it is one of the best shots of that train in all the time its been running and sure commands first place in this voting as well as CP’s selection when this year’s trains have been stabled.
And don’t get me started about the “Photo of the Day” fiasco.
Maybe the photos are not judged on how well they match the theme, but to find out if they are, let me ask this:
What would be wrong with just asking photographers to submit their best shot of railroading with no other theme specified?
No…themes are good. But they’ve got to be chosen, presented, and voted on based on the theme and not just a couple of shots to fill the week’s need.
Why are themes good?
It is better for judging, to narrow down a reason for judging pictures. No theme is too wide open and there is no rhyme or reason to judge because there are no perameters, no way to compare one picture of another. A diesel coming out of a tunnel in a snow storm vs a steam engine crossing the Australian outback? Better to limit to steam or diesel or tunnels or snow or the Australian outback and do five competitions. Makes it more challenging for the photographer and easier for the judges. No themes makes it an aimless free for all.
So you are saying that the photos are judged according to how well they match the theme and by their technical and artistic merit besides?
Or do they just have to be in the theme, in order to be judged by their technical and artistic merit?
It can’t be the former so it has to be the latter. But if it is the latter, what is the point of the theme? In other words, if you are not judging by the theme, what is the point of having one?
If you are judging six photos for technical and artistic merit, why is it too wide open to judge if they are not connected by a theme?
Even if the six are connected by a theme, they will all be radically different from each other. So I don’t see how a theme simplifies judging.
I get a kick at the way you pull words and sentences apart! First, I said, yes, there should
If you get the newsletter, the old winner will be announced and the new theme and deadline, you kinda got to dig it out…
My problem is only one outsider gets chosen, so you enter and enter and maybe once every you get in the actual voting. If you look at the contests, they often have the same entrants. These are all good people but photographers tend to have the same style and subject types so I can almost tell the entrants just looking at the photo. The other problem is that giving priority to some reinforces the old view point whether correct or not that there are ins and outs.
I think inclusion creates more interest as people will tell their friends and exclusion reduces interest.
Bob
Bob, the “same entrants” are the staff at Kalmbach who were the ones the competition was designed for. Adding a non staffer was a bonus idea after the fact. However, there could be more than one non staffer chosen. But by their own admission, they don’t choose the non staffer by reviewing the pic but by blindly picking from a pile.
My sense is that the photos are not judged on how well they match the theme regardless of whether or not that is the intention of the contest organizers. When people here give their reasons why they prefer one photo over the rest, it is usually based on the aesthetics and informational content of the photo. The theme is just a given context, and nobody is concerned how well the photo matches it.
Here is another way to look at it. Say you had six photos that were intended to fit a theme. Say you, as a judge, were not told what the theme is. Could you look at the six photos and tell what the theme is supposed to be? Of course not. So why have a theme?
I have a few thousand railroad photos that I have taken. I judge them all. It has never once occurred to me that they should be organized according to themes, or even evaluated according to how well they match a theme.
Yes, I do consider the theme when casting my vote. If one of the submissions for a theme of “mass transit” (to pick a random possible theme) is a 3/4 view of a steam engine running through snowy woods, it’s not getting my vote no matter how technically/esthetically perfect it may be.
As I said before, I look for “arty” in the submissions. Show me some imagination. Just because the topic is “heavy duty locomotives” doesn’t mean you have to submit a 3/4 roster shot of an SD70.
One of the shots required for a portfolio we had to do for a photography class was either “black on black” or “white on white.” There are many ways to approach that. I happened to use a shot of a coal pile. It wasn’t terribly inspired, but it worked. And it was a “theme.”