Enjoying Photography MORE without Rail Pics!

[MagnumForce]

I have basically stopped uploading to Railpics, over the last 6 months I may have uploaded 2 photos. It's not because I think the screeners are unfair, or their photography isn't top notch it's that I have really come to enjoy photography without adhering to standards that I think would get on RP and in my opinion I like my photography better without it, and isn't it all that matters?

I have found a great community in the form of Flickr that I find far more compelling and far ranging then anything you can get on Railpics and I haven't missed things one bit. $2.00 a month for a Flickr Pro Account is well worth every penny. And I also enjoy sharing photos on RRF and Trainorders without caring about how many views I get. I go out and shoot in weather that I normally would have completely stayed in for, I shoot on the shaded side,I shoot into the sun, and I have shot some pretty darn great stuff!

It is all such a breath of fresh air!

Anyone else decided to do the same?

[conrailmike]

The nice thing about Flickr is the amount of groups that you can contribute to.

[mlmphotography]

I shoot what I shoot, how I shoot it regardless of where I put my work. I know what RP wants, and when something I shoot matches up to their way of thinking, and it's up to my personal quality level, I submit it. I can't see how stopping your submissions to a website affected your shooting style, unless you were trying really hard to shoot for RP.

I know darn well that I didn't hesitate on the shutter because the thought of "It's not RP worthy" entered my mind.. lol

Loyd L.

[A No.1]

RAILROADPICTUREARCHIVES is cool too.

[MagnumForce]

I can't see how stopping your submissions to a website affected your shooting style, unless you were trying really hard to shoot for RP.

But that is JUST what tons of people do, so far to the fact that if they see anything out of the ordinary they go nuts about it because it doesn't conform. I was guilty of it!

[slwapprslw]

I've been supporting my Flickr account. My view of rail photography doesn't always match RP's view. Besides, I control the media on Flickr, not someone else. If I like it, it gets posted. BTW, I've added 12 pictures to my account tonight. Here's one to enjoy.


CSX_Northwood-OH_Vickers_BNSF5357-ATSF697_070110-1 by C Telles, on Flickr

[A No.1]

I don't know much about fliker. So I don't know if people go to fliker to search for rail photo's.

What I like about RRpicturearchives and RPnet is the exposure of your work. I think more people around the world go to those two sites for rail photo's.

Just my opinion.

[MagnumForce]

Actually Flickr is likely the first place people who are simply looking for rail photos would go. The Flickr Rail Community is quite vast and varied, I think you would be very very surprised. My contacts add as many or more Photos to Flickr everyday then are added to RP, and it is real quality stuff! Hardly any "filler" at all compared to RRPicture Archives. The groups are really what make flickr, try it, you will be addicted!

As for implied exposure, I simply don't care anymore. Does it really make me better because 5000 people looked at my photo? I think not!

[Mr. Tops]

As for implied exposure, I simply don't care anymore. Does it really make me better because 5000 people looked at my photo? I think not!

AMEN, Brother!

I once played the railpictures game, back when their standards were much lower, so most of my shots on there are crap anyway but regardless...I too find it much more enjoyable shooting for myself and not trying to please their tastes. I was one of those who would take shots only for railpics. Is that stupid? Yes, but it's the game people end up playing because of their "standard". The only positive is that it may strive a person to achieve better results to get their photos accepted. Even then, it is up to the photographer to learn from their mistakes and excel.

For me, it just got to be where it was too much of a PITA...uploading pics to RP, then having to go back and check and see which ones got rejected....fix them, resubmit, recheck, fix again, resubmit, recheck, give up, and then upload the "garbage" to rrpicturearchives.net. Now, I shoot whatever, and just dump everything onto photobucket. I haven't uploaded a shot to railpics in 6 years and my photography skills have gotten much better even without them telling me what is "acceptable".

But I completely agree with you, Brent. I know there are hardcore railpics supporters out there and I'm not saying don't upload pictures there, I'm just voicing my personal experiences and opinions. There are people out there that want to get published and become the next O. Winston Link and railpics may be the way to go. Good for them, but I don't take pictures in pursuit of becoming famous or wealthy. For me, it's just for fun and my OWN enjoyment. To each, his own.

[conrailmike]

I don't know much about fliker. So I don't know if people go to fliker to search for rail photo's.

What I like about RRpicturearchives and RPnet is the exposure of your work. I think more people around the world go to those two sites for rail photo's.

Just my opinion.

Don't bet on it. There are roughly 36 million members on Flickr with 3.5 billion photos, and with Getty Images part of it someone is looking at your images. There are lots of railroad groups out there on Flickr that have way over 10,000 photos in each. There is one railroad group that has over 90,000 photos in it. You can't tell me that the publishing community isn't looking at Flickr for content. Plus, like Brent said there's no "filler" material like you find on RRpicturearchives.net

[SD80MAC]

I like RRpicturearchives because it organizes everything by railroad, locomotive, road number, location, whatever. Saves me the time of having to build a database, I like to be able to know what I've seen and where.

I have a flickr but don't use it much, it's cool but I'm not paying for it once I hit 200.

[J T]

I shoot what I shoot, how I shoot it regardless of where I put my work. I know what RP wants, and when something I shoot matches up to their way of thinking, and it's up to my personal quality level, I submit it. I can't see how stopping your submissions to a website affected your shooting style, unless you were trying really hard to shoot for RP.

I know darn well that I didn't hesitate on the shutter because the thought of "It's not RP worthy" entered my mind.. lol

Loyd L.

Exactly. I've taken hundreds of pictures in the past year and I think I only submitted 29 in 2010, and only 13 of them were from 2010 out of all those hundreds. Why some people think they should "shoot for RP" is beyond me.

I can't see how stopping your submissions to a website affected your shooting style, unless you were trying really hard to shoot for RP.

But that is JUST what tons of people do, so far to the fact that if they see anything out of the ordinary they go nuts about it because it doesn't conform. I was guilty of it!

Why were you guilty of it? Why couldn't you just go out and shoot pictures for the fun of it, and if you happened to have a few shots that worked for RP, great, if not, they could be shared elsewhere.

[B-Town]

I don't just take pictures of trains, so I've been posting more stuff on Flickr!

My Flickr photostream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47491339@N04/

[CAT345C]

I just set mine up, photobucket was making me mad.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/58747187@N08/


Not a whole lot in there now, but when I catch up on my backlog from the marquette trips it should become pretty large.

[GTW6401]

I am always looking for new flickr contacts.