RailRoadFan.com

I'm including 10 links to of my photos I'm submitting to the scholastic Art Awards competiton sponsored via my school, thoughts?

The three landmarks by David R. Collins, on Flickr

Tribute to a legend by David R. Collins, on Flickr

Second-Hand by David R. Collins, on Flickr

A real ol' fashioned mexican standoff by David R. Collins, on Flickr

Chrysler Ad by David R. Collins, on Flickr

No Words by David R. Collins, on Flickr

Wildest dreams by David R. Collins, on Flickr

Bald Face GEVO by David R. Collins, on Flickr

Red Blue and Silver by David R. Collins, on Flickr

Amtrak 352, slow approach, MAL 1-2 North by David R. Collins, on Flickr

I guess the Deshler one is probably the best of the bunch. The NS west virginia one would be nice if it wasn't backlit. The rest either just have poor lighting or not framed well to my tastes.

For the purposes of the contest I would say the Deshler photo as well but I'd like to go through the rest of your Flickr photos and see what else you have.

Looking at the previous winners https://www.artandwriting.org/gallery/art
I think you will have to come up with something different than a conventional photo of a train

I'm gonna have to agree with the previous replys on this one. some constructive criticism I can give you however is a lot of the scholastic photos are intended to convey some sort of deeper message or let the viewer think hard about what they are viewing. If we look back to some more famous and iconic railroad photographers for example like O. Winston Link, Link's idea of capturing the railroad was secondary his main idea was capturing the era and how the railroads were involved IE "Hot Shot, East Bound, Iaeger, West Virginia, 1956" and "Livingroom on the Tracks, Lithia, Virginia, 1955" your Deshler photo conveys that very well. A city while very pretty in aspect has had a downfall over the years with what appears to be an abandoned building in the middle. The focus is on the building and water tower with the lettering "Deshler" on it not the train. Simply, the locomotives add to the photo in order to represent a modern time we live in, the modernization of today, and the decay of yesterday. The other photos however are just plain and simple wedge shots there is too much focus on the railroads as a whole. While Link did focus mainly on the steam locomotives on the N&W he made sure to capture the people who made it happen which is what added such an important aspect to his photographs. in history, you can't have GTW 5629 without Richard Jensen, You can't have the NS Steam Program without the Claytor Brothers, and you can't have a functioning railroad without the people who make it happen. Everything plays an important fuction in the railroad not just the locomotives themselves.

Also meant to mention that i agree with Z on your NS with west Virginia one, personally i think it made a nice photo so i decided to tweak it a little by upping the clarity and turning it into a black and white photo. Hope you don't mind.

Look at the gallery in the Scholastic Art website and you'll get a flavor for the genre that appeals to the judges. People, social issues and abstract are the dominant themes. These are not railroad people and they will look at the subject differently.

"Second-Hand" in black and white with the black and contrast punched up a bit as GTW Dude suggested. Perhaps crop the left side a little. It's coal mining...a social issue. Black and white is timeless and brings a gritty feel.

"Red Blue and Silver." Crop it down so it's an empty step on an empty platform. No light pole and boxes on the left and less of the end of the last car. As it is it's a picture of a train. Crop it down and it's the emptiness of the platform and the missing person. Where are they? Don't be afraid of a portrait orientation.

I like the Mexican standoff except for the gray sky. Maybe try it black and white. Mexican standoff is probably a bad name for the audience. Simply Standoff would add some mystery.

Try not to cut off trains that are stretched out in the distance. Either use a slightly wider focal length or shoot the train a little further in the distance so as not to cut off the rear. Think of the rear of the train as the vanishing point.

What did you end up submitting?

PatAzo wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 01, 2022 2:27 pm

What did you end up submitting?

1st, 3rd, 4th and some other photos, won’t know for awhile, the 1st is supposed to make it to the school art show, one of my photos made it last year and was runner up (not to brag)

I don't see any generic train photos making it into this contest. They are looking for truly artistic, stunning images. Very few train photos fit that description.

SD80MAC wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 02, 2022 11:26 am

I don't see any generic train photos making it into this contest. They are looking for truly artistic, stunning images. Very few train photos fit that description.

My teacher says they’re pretty good and may make runner up regional, and she’s serious when she says that, I’ll know when she’s being honest

That's cool. Hope you do well.

2/7/22 update: unfortunately none of the photos got selected, but no one else in our school had their photos picked even though some of them were incredible, that shows how strict scholastic is with their stuff. However, my photography teacher has asked for my work to be posted for the Bloomfield Township Public Library/BHS art show, Another railfan once submitted their work (which was a screenshot from one of his videos and wasn’t the greatest) to the show and got 2nd place, so I think I may have a good chance

Good luck David