Five photographers, including one Trains magazine reader, submitted images to Turkey Week Trackside. This round’s theme: “Overcast.”
I’m going with Tom Nanos’ shot this time. He got some nice-looking clouds, and a freight consist to die for! (For me, at least.) Andy’s shot was pretty good, too.
I was soooo looking forward to the contributions for this theme and am now sooooo dissapointed! Justin the Reader’s contribution comes closest of overcast of any submitted. Overcast to me is more pressing, dreary and dark, like closing in on you, threatening, uncomfortable. None did that. Or is it because I live near Binghamton, NY and a cloudy sky is the norm?
I just had to vote for Alex Mayes’ submission. Love those E-units, no matter the livery! It was tough because the Montana Rockies are pretty alluring too (maybe if that Corwin shot had been east of Essex instead, maybe up on the divide, it might have been an even closer call).
I gotta give kudos to Trains for daring to embrace the “anathema” of the cloudy shot. Railpictures.net routinely rejects otherwise excellent shots, using “poor lighting” as a euphemism for too cloudy - much to their own detriment, I believe. I’ve personally taken some magnificent shots on cloudy days, as have most of us. Thanks, Trains!
Charles Kuehn
Tom Nanos,yes! Got my vote!..Overcast means Overcast that you can see, and a with a reflection to boot! Nice consist too!
Had to pick Andy’s as it was the only one close to being my version of overcast (no sun and dreary). Tom’s was close but some blue poking through the clouds did not say overcast to me. Liked Justin’s also but not enough sky. I guess overcast means different things to different people. I agree with Henry6 that none of the pictures really followed the theme. Having said that the other submissions were definitely easy on the eyes.
My opinions: Drew and Alex both shot on overcast days, but included very little of the overcast sky in their photos. Andy was very close to getting my vote, as was Tom, but I decided that Tom’s submission was in need of either more zoom or better cropping. Finally, let’s hear it for the reader! I voted for Justin’s shot… something about the Warbonnet standing out against the grey skies, leading the train which snakes off into the distance. I felt it deserved first place this time out.
After a wonderful selection last outing, these were a bit disappointing. “Overcast” is a bit difficult to pull off in a picture I think. Probably because of the variables.
Between Andy and Tom, it came down to who has the best sky over competing panoramas. I really couldn’t see “overcast” in Alex Mayes’ picture - just example of “best picture of exhaust smoke”.
Obviously, Drew wins the award for “Best picture with human appendage”. The only thing that would have REALLY made that a standout picture would have been the engineer holding one of those little “twirley-fan things” that little kids hold out the car windows after visiting the 5 & dime store.
I’m going with the “reader submission” for my vote. Good Job Justin!
Only two of the entries said “overcast” to me…Tom Nanos and Andy Cummings. The other shots were interesting, but (my opinion) not quite on theme.#### After voting I was surprised in the vote count difference between those two photos. They were similar in many ways, yet one proved to be very popular, the other got mediocre support.#### I chose Andy’s Ontario Northland submission for a couple of reasons. The train itself seemed a bit bleaker than Nanos’ P&W shot…perhaps appropriate for an overcast day…and I didn’t care for the chimney sticking up in the middle of Tom’s shot.#### Amazing how various minds see different things in the same collection of photos.#### Now, it’s time to read the rest of your comments.#### Tom in Nashville
Justin’s shot said “dreary” to me, which simply amplified the overcast. Andy’s shot was a close second, and that peek of blue in Tom’s shot kind of disqualified it.
Alex, as usual, missed the theme altogether, but posted a nice picture of some F’s. Must be he couldn’t find any pictures of steam.
The sweep and structure in Tom’s sky (yes, there’s some blue, but it hardly changes the overall feel), plus its reinforcing reflection, nail the theme. If all you’re looking for is a train in flat light, well, OK, but we all have lots of those. Tom, as the saying goes, made lemonade with what he was given. Nice.