This is an excerpt from a post from another website that talked about the two different types of bus & rail photographers...
"In effect, there are two styles of bus/railfan related photographers. One is the "no people included what-so-ever concept"; while the second category is "people tend to enhance the picture".
On balance, all-too-many individuals who photograph buses/streetcars/trains and the like are photographers first and transportation enthusiasts secondly. My own experience over the years is this group lacks "people skills", and are chronic bores! The photograph is all that matters. And the pix under no circumstances will include - horrors - a person or persons.
The remaining body of photo takers is somewhat more intelligent, and realizes people and background scenes enhance a "shot". This class has graduated from the roster shot mentality, and overall their concept of photography is far more interesting than that of the "no people, no way" contingent."
Now i'm curious, does anyone here fall into either of these categories?
I laughed when I read the back and forth on the other website because that person is pretty stodgy himself. Pot, kettle, black. But since I don't consider myself a great photographer, not like some of the fellas on here (you know who you are!), I am trying to get the bus itself, not necessarily people. When I'm taking street scenes shots, I do the best I can to get the background in with the vehicle and try to keep some people out of it as best I can. Either way, I don't consider myself a bore or anymore intelligent either way!!
I was pretty insulted for you photographers when I went through that post. I had a small run in with him one time when he said the post about transit dreams was worthless and I posted that if he's not interested in the topic, then don't read it.
Hmm, what website was this thread on?
This was on btco.net under the topic Damn that*****
For me as long as the full bus is in the pic and nothing is blocking at least the front, I don't care. I try to vary my pics in that some I want the bus and sometimes I want the bus and scenery around it. I try to avoid obstacles such as poles and people and passing cars, so I can get the best pic of a bus I could.
I dont really care about people in the shots. I dont want there faces to be too much in my pic or something like this
(http://i518.photobucket.com/albums/u341/LIL_J_558/100_1346-1.jpg)
And i like a lil scenery whenever i get the chance. And i really like a pic of the bus itself no people no cars. And occasionally i may take a pic that is a lil screwed up but just as long there is a bus in the pic it is fine with me.
I'm one of those people that thinks "Yeah people can ruin it sometimes but if it's a good picture with good scenery and the people aren't really ruining it, I'll take it anyway."
Quote from: LandoverDivision on September 16, 2009, 05:50:13 PM
I'm one of those people that thinks "Yeah people can ruin it sometimes but if it's a good picture with good scenery and the people aren't really ruining it, I'll take it anyway."
Sometimes, a person in the picture, actually accents the picture being shown.
Look at this "lil ol lady". it appears to me, shes walking up to catch the streetcar. Look in her right hand. See the closed hand/fist? it appears to me, thats she is boarding the streetcar & she has her fare ready in her hand. My "Nanna" also did the same when we would walk up to catch the J8 bus to Aunt Dorothy's house. She called it "CARFARE". "But Nanna, you dont have a car" I would ask. she would then tell me carfare meant streetcar "carfare" at it was polite to have your fare ready when you boarded the bus, or streetcar. Imagine if EVERYBODY did that here in 2009.
So yes. . in this case, having a person in the picture, makes the pic more meaningful.
I like taking pics of buses with background and scenery, like capturing it doing its job, not just sitting there in a bus division doing nothing or something like that.
If you take a look at my website, you will see that a lot of my earlier pictures were pretty bad because of the fact that I was more interested in taking pictures of the bus itself (or parts of it) rather than everything else around it. Though I don't like to have people in my picture because they might not want to end up on the internet and I respect their privacy (as well as the bus operators) so that's why I censor their faces.
As for railfanning, I don't do that, I'm a bus person. (I don't take pictures at least, but I am somewhat interested in WMATA's rail system, but that's about it)
For me, I try to incorporate alot of perspective into my shots. Usually a person would walk into the shot and kinda ruin it (mainly because the focus gets screwy). The one thing is that people always think you're taking a picture of them and they get hostile. When I first got my Kodak camera, I had been nervous because of all the weird looks and such, but when I got more into it, I started to shrug that off. At first, I was the get the roster type shot not including the background. After experimenting with a few things, I honed my technique to include background and now people. Now, since I have my Fujifilm, I'm starting to develop into the high-end amateur field and branch into the DSLR range.
In transit photography, I like to get buses and trains ding "their thing". I'll still get the pic if it's parked/layed up, but it's not my preference. I also go for a totally unobstructed shot. I don't mid people and other vehicles, but I don't want them to block any part of the object. In doing so, I consider myself to be respectful of people's privacy and job. That doesn't mean I don't get people in my shots, but it won't look like I'm aiming for them. Also, I don't like to get two feet from a bus and start taking pics as (1) it draws attention to you and I also don't want to make the bus operator feel uneasy. In getting pics, I've seen some transit fans do what I think is some crazy stuff. I've sene them climb onto poles, others run out into fast moving traffic and one guy acted like he was going to shoot pics at the Pentagon (post 9/11).