Cotton Mill Express 18th April

I'm sorry - but I will say it and you can all rant on as much as you like, but Mr Dimmer spams every railway newsgroup and forum that he can find with the same unimaginative fusilade of shots whenever excursions pass through Deighton.

He never tries to change his outlook or to find better locations - simply fires up the motor drive and then the send button.

So I would suggest that he is insulting the credibilityof the newsgroups and forums concerned somewhat more than anyone on here suggesting he ups his game.

 

Its rare that we agree Frank but I'm with you 100% on this one.

many of us have tried the PM approach to no effect.

 

Simple really, don't click the links.

 

I probably don't have enough posts and therefore creditability to say this, but I will. Its not a competition for everyone, some people just enjoy going out and sharing the what they've seen, it doesn't have to be suitable for the front cover of a magazine. This a public forum where anyone can post, elitist attitudes like this aren't going to welcome new blood to the hobby (yes hobby) and keep it going for the next generation.

 

I for one enjoy trawling through Neil's historic pic postings. Long may they continue.

Enjoyed my trip on the Cotton Mill today - as did my three buddies Nice to see the gallery instead of being part of it

 

Elitist attitudes on Nat Pres? If this lot are the elite God help us.
Over and out.

 

I totally agree, I have looked at the photos and don't see anything wrong with them I have seen a lot worse!! there may be some repeats but at least they are pleasing and well composed.

 

Yes, but these aren't historic - at least with the historic ones, there is usually only one of each train, not 15 - 20 of the same train at the same location all taken within 15 seconds of each other.

And yes you can ignore the links, but they are posted on just about every forum and yahoo group, and the message is always exactly the same, obvisouly copied and pasted from one forum to another. Its almost like spam!

Does Mr Dimmer actually post anything other than plugs for his website on this or any of the other forums?

 

Cotton Mill seen at 3 locations today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqp8ZbbrlI

 

One of the benefits of having decided ( after much thought ) to stay in the dark ages of chemical photography is that I don't even have the temptation to as TbirdFrank wrote "fire up the motor drive and then the send button", yes I even decided to pack the ancient 'add on' motor drive back in its box and it now nestles in the loft. I have to think about how I am going to compose the picture before I press the button - once. The first big plus is that if it turns out to be a worthwhile shot I really enjoy sharing it with others, the next big plus is that if it is just average or as usual much less I keep it to myself. However there really is nothing to stop the same approach being used in digital based photography, just because something can be done that does not mean it has to be done, including gatling gun photography. I will now get back in my box along with the motor drive.

 

A couple of shots from me nowt special ,taken as 45407 just tops the summit at Sough one just before it shut off and one after ,a credit to Ian and his crew she looked great .

Dave

 

In reply to all the snide remarks, this is a hobby not the secret service for goodness sakes, Do some people get a thrill from downing everybody else? it is becoming more of a hobby than the railway itself, and thank you to all the positive remarks i have received you know who you are.

I will more tham likely get lambasted for this ](*,)

oh well
Neil \/

 

Yes they do on this forum, you will find many reactionary remarks composed by those wishing to draw attention to themselves.

Thank you for sharing your images.

 

"fire up the motor drive and then the send button",

yep thats me to a "T", but hey who cares [smilie=to funny.gif]

I enjoy your pictures by the way Neil, keep up the good work mate

 

Salty Dog make a good point about this being a topic for private discussion through PMs. However, it has already become a public topic, and I think the subject is wider than just Neil Dimmer's site. (Maybe this discussion should be moved to the Photography forum, rather than What's Going On?)

Context is very important. It really does depend on what the photographer's intention is. If Neil's objective is to record the trains passing through his local station, then that's fine. It's a worthy ambition, if perhaps a little limited. However, I think that the habit that he and many others have, of posting many near-identical shots of the same train, betrays a certain lack of imagination and discrimination. Surely it would be better to post just the best one or two from each occasion? People looking at a site like that notice the number of similar images rather than the content of the images themselves, and that gets in the way of the story he is trying to tell. If the medium obscures the message then the photographer has failed. Personally, I stopped looking at Neil's site after about my third or fourth visit, and now normally ignore his posts in threads like this.

I have some sympathy, though, because I had a similar problem when I took up railway photography 20 years ago. I'd come home with a sequence of similar and not very inspiring pictures from a long day out. In my case, the solution was to switch to cine, and later to video, which was a better way to tell the stories I wanted to tell. Neil, maybe you'd do better with video, too?

"Less is more" is a very good motto.