Steam & Excursion > Pete Lerro Photo Shoot

Here are two photos I took at a recent Pete Lerro Photo Shoot hope you enjoy them

joe

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Keepers!

Steve Mitchell
http://www.yardgoatimages.com

Ok. This is outstanding photography. Great lighting and skill. Wonderful effort. There is no getting around that. Good job! ... But geese...the ecentric rod is missing from the Greenbriar and the rail ends 3-feet in front of the locomotive. A fantastic effort. Marvelous photography...but what's the point?

Whats the point in taking any photograph?

In looking at the photo I see a locomotive at the end of a platform track. With the smoke around the locomotive I don't think you can see the rod is missing. I tried to have that not show up. For thos that like the photo thank you for your comments

Joe

The negativity on the rail fan boards get old, these people really don't understand what goes into an event like this or steam preservation at all. I think these are great photos and I commend Pete Lerro, The Virginia Museum of transportation and Ross Rowland for allowing an event like this to happen. 614 has been in storage out of the public's eye for years, I think it is great that people can at least enjoy her beauty while we await an opportunity to see her run again.

Keystone1 Wrote:
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> Ok. This is outstanding photography. Great
> lighting and skill. Wonderful effort. There is no
> getting around that. Good job! ... But
> geese...the ecentric rod is missing from the
> Greenbriar and the rail ends 3-feet in front of
> the locomotive. A fantastic effort. Marvelous
> photography...but what's the point?

Nothing that a little judicious cropping won't fix.

>>> but what's the point?

The "point" is to recreate a few scenes from the past that you will never ever see again in modern life. There is something very compelling about history, acknowledging the past and what it took to get "us" to this point in the 21st century. There's something even more compelling to us younger steam fans who never got to experience these kind of everyday scenes. A recreation can bring these magnificent ladies back to "life" (who will never again see a fire in their bellies) for a short time and take us back in a time machine for a few hours.

Beautiful work. Don't let Keystone 1 and the other negatoids get you down. There's always a tiny minority that love to carp no matter what you do, it's just part of the territory.

The vast majority enjoy, appreciate and applaud your work.

Thanks for your efforts.

Ross Rowland

Yeah, what Ross said...

Not EVERY photo shoot is for EVERY person. If it doesn't interest you, keep moving. As the saying goes, If you don't have anything nice to say...

Even though most staged shoots aren't high I my list to attend, I enjoy seeing the results, such as these.

Dave



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/19/11 14:34 by Bridge60.

Thanks Ross and others who replied in a positive manor. I rode many trips behind 614 and worked on her when she was in the Hagerstown roundhouse. Ross we had a lot of fun and I could not pass up having the opertunity to photograph this magnificient machine.


Joe

Fine photos, but why is Keystone1 talking about goose rears?

Pump

Keystone1 Wrote:
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> But geese...

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Keystone 1; I understand your puzzled and negative attitude, but as someone who attended and enjoyed this photo shoot, I must try to explain "the point" to such an event. Others have done a good job already, but I have a thing or two to add. The simple answer is Art. I am primarily an artist, that is to say I paint and take photographs, and the main subject matter of my work is the steam locomotive. I would like to have the chance to shoot what O. Winston Link shot, but those days are gone forever. Of course, I would always prefer to photograph a living steam engine, but 614, 611 and 1218 have been dormant for quite a number of years now. Non of them may ever run again, although I will keep my fingers crossed. Photographing these steam engines with fake steam and dramatic lighting at night, allows me to imagine what it would have been like to stand next to these beasts when they were running. I have seen both 611 and 1218 under steam and moving at high speeds, but now the sit, no where to go. Taking these pictures brings them back to life, even if it is in a very small way.

A person could say, "Just go shoot diesels", or something like that, but I don't really care that much what a modern diesel is doing. I love modern railroads, but they don't, in my world, make good art. I go to great lengths to photograph even an HO model steam engine, just so that I can make steam photographs. I often photo-shop in steam or whatever necessary. It may sound pointless and cheesy or even dishonest, but it's really all I've got, models, museums and tourist railroads.

Here is a photo I took of my Reading T1, 2103. It's not the real thing, but it brings a bit of the past to life, and it keeps me satisfied in a world where steam is all but lost. My only regret is that I didn't use a better camera. ...Next time... You may all judge if you like, but it serves to satisfy my hunger for a distant and lost time.

Nathaniel Emerson



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/11 07:51 by steam290.

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Nice shots... did you get any with 611 and 614 in the same shot?

Keystone1 Wrote:
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> Ok. This is outstanding photography. Great
> lighting and skill. Wonderful effort. There is no
> getting around that. Good job! ... But
> geese...the ecentric rod is missing from the
> Greenbriar and the rail ends 3-feet in front of
> the locomotive. A fantastic effort. Marvelous
> photography...but what's the point?

Hum, do ALL shops have run-thru tracks? I know all passenger stations don't now, and didn't in the past.

Assuming that engine is in a shop scene rather than a a station scene (and I'd interpret it that way), then even if I could see a rod missing off the side of the engine I don't know that it would be inappropriate. When you are shopping an engine, don't you sometimes take parts off to work on them? I can't offhand see how else you could replace things if you don't take old parts off. And with less than 200 hands in that shop (and I only see 2) then I can imagine that there might not be 50 guys standing there with the new side rod on their sholders ready to install it the instant the old rod is removed (and never mind the time for bearing inspection).

Now, would there be steam coming out of an engine with a missing side rod? I'm sure OSHA woudl give a categoric NO. But OSHA wasn't around in the 1800s, and I'd be willing to bet that there would have been times that the boiler crew was working on testing steam at the same time that the iron crew had a few bits of the thing lying on the ground.

Overall I don't see a technical problem with the images, other than possibly there should have been about 40 people around working on the thing, and at least one person in a brown suit with a gold watch chain, overseeing the operation. But actors cost more than grips and effects guys.

Now, if your real complaint is "but I can't take it out and play with it tonight!" I'm not sure my response would be quite as politic.

Very nice shots of the Reading locomotive. I have taken many such shots as well of my own HO layout. Thank you also for your comments they make me feel much better about sharing my work for others to see.


Lwilton -- Thank you and your comments are well put. Like I said before it's a shame that when you share work for others to see they have to pick it appart. I do work as a photographer but I feel I take photos other;s will enjoy as I have and I shouldn;t have to defend them.

Beautiful shots! When I see shots of history, all I get is a black and white view. When this history is recreated, I get a peek into the memories of the people that lived it. Thank you!