The latest round of our biweekly photo competition, Trackside with Trains.com, is live. Ten photographers submitted images for the theme “Signals.” This round’s reader submission comes from George Hamlin of Fairfax, Virginia.
I voted for Elrond Lawrence’s shot this time, and it would appear that I’m not alone. He had the advantage in that he was actually photographing the signals, and not just digging out a train shot that happened to include signals. There were others who met that criterion (Andy, in particular), but Mr. Lawrence’s showed the signals at work! (I also liked our reader contribution, showing the unique ex-N&W CPLs.)
(You may wish to make this a sticky thread!)
Yep, Elrond nailed it this week. There’s something about that right-of-way too, with the new concrete ties and ballast…just says heavy duty, which has nothing to do with signals but when combined with the signals and the approaching train, it generates a good feeling.
With all that said…Andy also provided a very slick shot. Can’t really describe the feeling accurately but that photo really had me.
This is the best collection of photo’s I’ve seen in a long time. Diesels are nice, but these lineside structures really speak railroading to me. I could only vote once, so I voted for Ken.
Bruce
Went with Andy - the theme is signals, and that’s what he shot.
Elrond was a very close second - the signals hold a commanding presence in his photo, with the train secondary. Many of the other shots appeared to be of trains that happened to have a signal in them.
Elrond’s shot was, as always, well composed and shot and thus received my vote. I agree that Andy’s shot is also very tasty - only complaint is horizon line down the middle. Rule of Thirds!
Again, we need a link from Trackside to here like we used to have before the website change!
It was love at first sight…none of the others even got close.
Elrod Lawrence made it happen.
TJB / Nashville
After having been on here for a while now, and having voted in many of these photo contests, I have a friendly suggestion. Wouldn’t it be more fair to NOT identify which photo belongs to which person? They could use numbers or letters, etc. I mention this because I looked back through the last contest and people seemed to be mentioning a possible influence of name association and because I had already thought of it myself. If you think about it, most any contest does it without names attached. It just seems much more objective. [2c]
…Liked Elrond’s photo…“Signals” were well represented and I liked the mood the photo presented. Pure Railroad setting and ambience.
Nice collection this round. Certainly, all fit the criteria of “signals”. I had a tough time with this one. In the end, I voted for Tom Nanos’ photo. I liked them all, I just thought his was the most creative.