Trackside with Erik and Mike, Vol. 47: February 13, 2006

[Anonymous]

Beautiful shots, Mike and Eric! Eric's photo was great in composition, I loved the sears tower, the F40, and the Metra train, but the raw power and speed of that big GE in Mikes shot, fighting the elememts, racing down the main line got my vote!

awesome work guys!

[PennsyHoosier]

Can't beat that skyline!

[Texas Zepher]

Once again I didn't vote. I find the difference in equipment too big an advantage for one of the photographers, but neither do I like either of the photographs.

The pan shot has too much of the locomotive in the frame, leaving it no place in front to be "going to". In fact it looks like it is "going out". There is nothing in the background either in or out of focus that give the locomotive any aura or sense of being. The only thing of interest in the whole shot is the skiff of snow on the pilot.

The other shot - what can I say. The oncoming locomotive / train is too far away to be too interesting. The wad of trackwork in the center that could be interesting isn't clear enough to see well. The building on the left isn't enough in the frame to know if it is train related or not. Can't tell anything about the equipment we are riding on except it has Amtrak colors and there is a hand rail half in the sun and half in the shade. And finally the skyline is all clobbered up with the power lines.

[Anonymous]

I chose Mike's photo. The angle it's taken at and the blurred areas giving the impression of speed make for an excellent shot.

[lhtalbot]

I hope everyone remembers to click up the large version of each photo. Once you do that, Mike's pacing shot looks really good & gets the vote.

Larry in Wauwatosa

[mikeyuhas]

QUOTE: Originally posted by blhanel

were you driving, Mike?)[:O]

I suppose I had better come clean. Ooh, there's the phone! [:-^]

[Anonymous]

This week you both took exceptional photos [^][^] so who took the better one[?]
I do not know its a coin tost no ask the wife.[:0] So Mike you got my vote [;)]
That Cannon 135mm IS made your shot.

[kicksvette]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rgroeling

I loved the sears tower, the F40,

Not sure what pic you are looking at... There is no F-40 in that scene.

[Anonymous]

I gave it to mike,for a few resons because the picture is clear and captures the power of the locomotive. Erik on the other hand had a great photo because, it was sort of semetric. The telophone pole had the sears tower next to it and the train erik was on was semetric to the train on the distance. Erik had a great photo but if the train in the distance was clear i wouldve gave him the vote. Great Jod, both of you. I would also like to say thank you for bringing us the veiws asome photographs to veiw. i really appriciate it. THANK YOu!

[broarthur]

I really enjoy these contest that you have. I had to go with Mike's photo this week, as he states in his explaination it was pretty much a test shot but it came out pretty good. Erik's shot had too many subjects and it all didn't blend together very well in my opinion. Thanks for putting your work out there you guys.

[mandelswamp]

Erik's campaign pitch to vote for his submittal is nothing more than what in philosophy is called an appeal to the emotions. Erik tried to win votes not by the quality of his photo but by trying to tug at the voters' heartstrings. I found Erik's photo to be a well-executed but emotionless picture. Mike's submittal, demonstrated the advantages of Canon's Image Stabilizer technology and provides a pacing shot that conveys the power of that speeding locomotive. While I am not much of a fan of pacing shots, for me, Mike's contest submittal screamed action and Erik's shot invoked a yawn. So this time, Mike won my vote. Congratulations to Mike and good luck to both of you on the next contest.

[Anonymous]

I dunno.. both shots had elements in them that I liked... but seeing the blur below the loco, the blurred snow or rain going by, and yet having the Engine itself frozen in time edged out the technically excellent shot of the excursion train.

[UPTRAIN]

Pretty interesting angle from Amtrak anyway, way to go Erik. Mike seemed to have just another pacing shot to me. If I want to pace a UP train under cloudy skys, I have 16 miles of 70 mph railroad running parallel to highway 25 between Dexter and here. I would have voted for the shot on a sunny day, but those are in short supply this time of year.

[jeaton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mikeyuhas

QUOTE: Originally posted by blhanel

were you driving, Mike?)[:O]

I suppose I had better come clean. Ooh, there's the phone! [:-^]

Mike, Two possible stories.

1. You moved from the passenger seat to the back seat driver's side to get a clear shot.

2. The car was running backwards.

Jay

[jeaton]

Mike has a great demo shot for the IS feature. I have that lens and it gets good shots at max zoom without a tripod.

Vote went to Erik for a shot that is something different.

Jay