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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by flee307 Mr Boudreau, I am truely impressed with your photo work and number of wins, but proclaiming to be an amatuer is like Micheal Jordan claiming to be an amatuer basket ball player and a professional spokesman because he made more money endorsing products than playing roundball. The old definition for amatuer was they got NO money or reward other than the pride, then it somehow all changed to mean anyone was an amatuer who proclaimed they were an amatuer, ie. the USA Olympic Basketball team. I am sure you have and could make money as a professinal photographer. Your first place win alone would disqualify you from being a classic amatuer. Good quality photo equipment required to compete in this contest would be, $250 to $1000 for a SLR with macro lense, $50 to $250 for a tripod, ans $100 to 1000+ for lighting. Add to that film cost, filters, batteries, just stuff that any model railroader should have just laying around. Maybe I mispoke a little by saying professional photographer in light of the new definition for amatuer, but the contest isn't something the average modeler on a budget can compete in and have a serious chance of winning. Your record of wins speak to that. The contest is geared more towards photographers and computer geeks who can make less than perfect models and scenes seem to be better than they may really be by manipulation of light, angles, focus, and now data. Even slides could be dummied up by a geek today to appear as a scene that doesn't exist anywhere but on a computer. Do you feel that's fair to the real photographer like yourself? FRED [/quote] FRED: I don’t think the analogy between myself and a multimillionaire professional basketball player is suitable. I do not and did not make my living taking photos, it’s always been another HOBBY of mine. The money I’ve won in contests and for published material has helped pay for my photo equipment. Your definition of an amateur is yours alone. Many model railroaders are amateur photographers too, using their cameras for model and prototype photography. Who would you have the contest open to? Modelers with Instamatic cameras and flashcubes? How about Polaroid cameras? Now they would produce some memorable photos that a magazine would want to publi***o show of the best of our hobby! If a modeler is a hobby (or full time) machinist, should he be eliminated from model contests because he has the tools and the skills to hand make brass models and the rest of us don’t? This is the same for the photo contests, those with the skills and proper equipment are normally the ones who produce the best results. My first place-winning photo in MR’s 1989 contest was relatively simple. I had two kitbashed wedge snowplows facing each other, framing a CN GP-35 diesel by Athearn. The scene was posed on a piece of Styrofoam on which I had mounted two pieces of track. The backdrop was a printed one by Faller. Lighting was with three 500-watt photoflood bulbs (under $5.00 each) in reflectors. I bought the three reflectors complete with lightweight stands when I first got into photography for around $75.00. The camera I used was probably a Canon A-1, which at the time was one used by advanced amateurs. I had traded previous cameras up to get this second hand one. The lens was an old and inexpensive Vivitar 28mm in which I had added a home made pinhole opening. So that’s the setup I used, not overly complex or expensive at the time. It could have been duplicated with a less expensive camera too. I’ve seen similar sentiments before when I was in camera clubs. Some people seemed to think it was the expensive photography equipment that allowed some to take their prize-winning photos. In reality it’s the eye of the photographer that makes memorable photos. Better equipment allows more control over the photo process, and therefore more chances at capturing the desired scene or effect. Bob Boudreau
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