Trackside with Trains, Vol. 88 with guest Cody Grivno

[Bergie]

Hello! 

This week, Mike Yuhas of Trackside with Trains.com is joined by Cody Grivno, associate editor at Model Railroader magazine. Get to know Cody and see how he's more than "just" a modeler.

Read Trackside with Trains.com Volume 88.

Click here to vote then add your comments about this week's photos here.

Erik

[Rocket Man]

Welcome to the competition Cody!

I agree that your snow piles frame the shot nicely and I love the intense blue sky with the white snow, and red of the WSOR, (kinda Patriotic...) BUT... (sorry Cody) Snow piles are just, well snow piles and they distracted me a bit.

I'm going with Mike's UP due to the way the shadows play on the perfectly smooth snow and the sign of work and action with the smoke plume.

Am I actually going to be the first reply???? WOW!

[Jersey Bob]

 Two great shots. I had to go with the action one. As a neophyte,--Just one question, What do you mean by the "Wrong" side of the track? Both shots were of the port side of the train. I thought the only "Wrong" side was on the tracks themselves.

Jersey Bob  

[K5GBW]

Cody, welcome to Trackside. I hope we get to see more of your photos. Although my primary camera is a Canon 30D; I still shoot Fuji Velvia 100F in my Elan 7 on bright sunny days. I like the framing of the motive power between the snow piles. It gives the appearance of a low angle shot. The bright blue sky adds to the overall feel of a cold winter Wisconsin day.

Mike, contrary to popular belief you can take good railroad photos on the "wrong side". You pulled it off magnificently here. In fact I don't think the photo would have the same effect with the exhaust if did shoot it from the other side of the tracks. My favorite photo of the edition of Trackside was your twilight shot of UP Granville job. But I can't vote for it...

 I hate to say it but I think the deciding factor for me was the bright blue sky in Cody's photo. I know Mike is leading the polls early, but I'm going to predict a win for Cody. Mike repeat after me, "Red engines in snow, red engines in snow." 

Brian

[Kell]

Funny how we see things in photos. I was just thinking that Cody had used the drift to nicely frame his shot of the WSOR. And I'm always a sucker for locomotives running "Elephant style". And I liked the color contrasts. So I think you know which way I'm leaning this month. Get my drift?

Kell

[Anonymous]

I thought the only "Wrong" side was on the tracks themselves.

I went with Cody's photo. I just liked it better than the rather run-of-the-mill UP shot. If you'd used that UP night photo, you'd have gotten my vote. Great work to both of you!

[Anonymous]

First off welcome Cody, there is something to be said for film photography even now.  for certain things you just cant beat the crispness of a print or slide taken properly.  As for how my vote went.  I gave it to Cody just for the technical difficulties involved in shooting film over digital.  Both photos were equal in merits to my eye, so having all things otherwise equal, the vote went to the harder shot to pull off.  I liked the way the sun lit the UP GP-38 exhaust but that was all that set it apart from so many other wedgie shots. Good luck to you both in the voting.

[CNW 6000]

Neither one did much for me.  Sorry guys.

[mandelswamp]

I enjoy Cody Grivno's weekly MR video "Cody's Office" and want to welcome him to the Trackside with Trains competition.  Mike, your UP photo is nice but I think that Cody's framing of his train between the snow piles has more appeal.  In addition, I think the WSOR "candy apple red" looks prettier against the snow than UP yellow.  So my vote this week went to Cody.  Cody, I also liked your shot of the Amtrak Hiawatha.  Mike, I also liked your night shot better than the one that you entered.

[Buzzee]

I always have such a hard time picking a photo, I have enjoyed them all and live in an area where I don't get to see any trains and really miss them.  As great as your pictures are Mike I'm going with Cody's the snow drifts, blue sky and Red engine has it all and I like the UP but Cody has my vote.

Cody I hope to see more of your pictures and always enjoy your articles keep it up.  , Jerry 

 

[CShaveRR]

Again, with my usual disclaimer that "it may not be art, but I know what I like," I'll cast my vote for Newcomer Cody this time.  I think it was the blue sky that did it for me (if I'd just get one of those every so often I wouldn't be longing for spring so much!).

[jrhambone]

Although Cody needed to make a slight adjustment for the snow, his photo got my vote anyway.  I still think Mike's photos are too dark--really nice photos, but dark.  Thanks for the opportunity to learn from this feature of the Trains website.

[Modelcar]

....Must be honest in opinion.....Neither shot reached out and said "look at this RR action, etc....".  Mike, I did like the almost dark shot better of a similar train with the headlight and ditch lights glowing....

But the two submitted photos:  Must call it a draw. 

[CopCarSS]

Had to go with Cody's shot. I liked the framing effect of the snow mounds. Nicely executed. The fact that you're a Pentaxian who graduated in '98 just sealed my vote. Anybody from the class of 1998 and shoots Pentax has got to be a great guy!

P.S. Cody - If you want to make the digital leap, Pentax is a great brand to do it with. ALL of your K-mount glass will be quite usable with a digital body. As an added bonus, all of your old lenses will magically become image stabilized if you pick up a K100D, K10D, K200D or K20D! Drop me a line if you need any info.

[eolafan]

Wow, this edition of Trackside had two very good photos of Wisconsin action and they were both very hard to vote "against"...but Mike's has my vote, probably because of the piles of Wisconsin snow in a poor spot in Cody's photo...but thanks to both of the guys for two wonderful winter time photos.

[TrackTalk 1]

Cody, that is a truly good photo especially with the ME.  You have mastered that camera well and it shows.  Knowing your equipment and it's limitations along with good photographic skills such as exposeure, framing, composing and etc is all made more difficult in cold winter weather especially with snow and a high sky.

In addition to having a ME I do most of my work with an MX which is mostly manual and have been using that camera since school.  It's been in the shop for general cleaning and twice for actual repairs but boy is it tough.  I took it to work with me for over 20 years and it bounced around in the back of a pickup or through the airport many times   I too will someday not far off be converting to digital and will learn to use a digital to the best of my ability but will always have a soft spot for the film cameras and the great images the camera and I could create.

Tracktalk1

[PE 3&4]

Tough call men, but I lean towards Cody. The Granville shot would have been my favorite. Sorry Mike. As for snow, we enjoyed a fine winter blast here in Ohio these last few days. Trains and snow seem to go together, so keep on shooting.

Thanks,
Fred

[asnjoe24]

Before I get to the vote, I should say that I much prefer Mike's daring-the-twilight "steath mission" shot of the UP Granville train (the lights of UP 1063 seem eye-catching to me against the evening background, aside from being a great up-close shot), as well as Cody's shot of the Amtrak Hiawatha 340 (the signal tower and the Milwaukee skyline really add to the shot, I think). I personally thought these would have made better vote choices for this week (although if they were, the decision for me would be super-tough).

Anyway, to the vote: Cody's WSOR shot has a nice side perspective and full lighting, although I must admit that the snow piles in the foreground are a bit too distracting for me; they seem to draw the viewer too much toward them than the train, in my opinion.

Even though Mike's shot is on "the wrong side of the tracks," I think the view of the exhaust billowing out against the tree line really gives it some action. UP 1063 looks really fresh and new in this shot for some reason, like its just out of the paint shop, and that's also appealing.

So in the end, I chose Mike's shot for this week.

- Bryan

[LU-Trains]

I never thought I would get tired of “Red engines in the Snow”, but Good Lord!!! - How much snow do you people get every year!  How do you live in that stuff!?!  Brrrrrr . . you guys have got to move south!

I live about as far north as I ever want to.  Cody, Mike - both of you - Come on down to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and take some great spring time mountain train shots this next month.  The trees should be budding, all the Witch Hazel will explode on the hillsides, and the trains just lumber along the ridges . . .

Plus the weather is a bit milder.  Mike could actually shoot pictures dressed in his tutu if he wanted to . . . (Of course, since I live very close to “Deliverance” country, you might want to be a mite careful around some of the  . . . country boys . . ! )

Since I already support Cody by owning his Freight Yard article, I felt obliged to go with Mike’s “shadows and exhaust” panorama.  

However, with all the “renegade” conversation about digital versus slide film, how about you guys duel it out next month with Kodak instamatic disposable cameras?    Naah, nevermind - with your weather you’d both be holding frozen bricks of cardboard and plastic before the shoot was over . . .

[Chris Owens]

Both were very good shots , but I think that I had seen Mike's  photo before !!!! I voted for Cody,

Southern gives the Green Light for Innovations

[DadH]

As others have stated neither photo really said "Vote For Me", though my favorites were the UP Granville and Amtrack shots -- either would have been a TOUGH vote choice. Guess I'll go with the "Old Timer's" shot of the UP. Southern AZ is much nicer than Tennessee in the Spring (Was 73 today). C'Mon Down. DadH

[Anonymous]

How much snow do you people get every year!  How do you live in that stuff!?!

Too much.... And we don't live in it, we stay inside whenever possible..... I'm sick of it up here too.

[JSGreen]

I gotta agree with the Undecided Camp on this one....neither one stood out for me.  About this time of year, though, I would be tempted to vote for any picture with no snow as the winner, no matter the other technical merits!

[lhtalbot]

I agree, neither shot is a real grabber. I like the brilliant colors in Cody's pic. I don't have a problem with the snow & the framing with the piles is probably better than an over the top of it shot. A little smoke over the engine would have been nice, but you have to take what you get.

I voted for Mike's shot, it just has a few more goodies. You can see the smoke, & you can see the lights better. The wrong side lighting is what makes it, tho. I recently shot some pics of a standing train during a crew change, & had the opportunity to shoot from both sides. As in Mike's shot, the nose was shadowed from either side. My experience was the sunny side pics seemed washed out, probably because of all the snow. I admit, I shot with the camera only on "auto", perhaps could have done better with some tinkering.

Keep the photos coming, guys (& gals) I enjoy your efforts.

Larry in Wauwatosa

[loadmaster747]

Hello, Cody, and welcome to Trackside.  I've never been to your corner of Minnesota, but I have been to International Falls.  Glad to see you moved south for the warmer weather .  How much "white stuff" do we get?  Here in the Chicago area, this has been the 7th snowiest winter on record, the last two major storms just missed us (sorry, Milwaukee and Cleveland!), and early April snows are not unheard of.  Still, I voted for your MSOR photo.  The brilliant blue sky contrasting with the pure white of fresh snow and the bright red of the MSOR locomotives shows the beauty of the season, as well as man's determination to deliver the goods.  Mike's photo, while showing more action, also showed the more depressing side of winter... overcast skies and dead brown vegetation.  I usually vote for a photo based on which one I would rather include in a company calendar, and Cody's shot won in that respect.    

[zardoz]

I prefered the UP shot.

While I appreciate the effect I think Cody was trying achieve with the snowbanks, to my eye the prespective just didn't sit quite right.  If it had been a natural formation of snow, like a drift, then it might have worked better. Additionally, it seemed a bit overexposed.

The "wrong side" shot of the UP looked nice.  Yes, the sky was a washed-out grayish sort of non-descript feature, but the blue exhaust and the trees looked good (too bad about the foreground junk in the lower-right corner).

Actually, if both photographers had submitted their "other" photos (UP Granville job & the Columbus SOO/CP shot) I would have had a more difficut time chosing. I liked both of those better than the submitted images. 

[LVJJJ]

RED loco's, WHITE snow, BLUE sky, Cody's picture for me

[wccobb]

Hadda go with Cody's.  Sunny side, brighter colors, snow drifts, etc.  Admittedly pathetically poor reasons for judging between two very excellent photos. 

[espeefoamer]

While neither picture was overly exciting,both were examples of good solid railroad photography.I voted for Cody's shot,mainly for the way the snowbank in the foreground framed the WS train.

[LU-Trains]

TrackTalk 1 - Kearney, MO.

 

Just a sidenote - I just noticed your hometown.  I was the band director at

Lawson, MO. many years ago!  Greetings to a neighbor!