Photo Etiquette.

No real excuse at that distance for not turning up in good time

 

Dare I ask ?

 

Was Baldwin among them?

 

That is what winds most of us up, the "me 1st, arms out brigade".................

On the MHR I'm lucky enough to have PTS so don't have that problem...... However, if I go to another line where I ride the cushions & I have no idea where to go lineside, I'll go with the flow & let them get their shots, then I'll take mine.

Could say this is a double edged sword - Joe Public are what keep the Heritage lines going & without them we would not have what we have now...... so let them do what they do.

However mainline is a different kettle of fish............. I've been told many a time from late comers at a location to get the F out of their shot - they usually get the "Royal Salute" plus a donning of Hi - Viz to really bugger their shot!

If I turn up late, I see whats what & choose a shot from there, might not be the best but hey ho.

 

Drifting of topic for a moment the Brownie 127. I think the shutter speed was 1/50th of a second, maybe even less. When I lived in the West Midlands I used it to film stationary Kings at Snow Hill and all sorts of stuff at New Street. I think I invented panning when I tried to take a shot of a moving train with the thing.
Getting back to etiquette it's fascinating to think how the great photographers of the steam age, Tracey, Ivo Peters, Anderson, and the mighty Gifford et al (not Big Al!) would get on with the modern scene. Bet they didn't have problems with people blocking their shots........

 

Just gave them a dose of their own medicine and then some.

 

Well since we digress .
Ah yes 1/50th if you were lucky !
I still have mine and keep threatening to give it an airing again, I found a reference http://www.frugalphotographer.com/cat127.php some time ago which seemed to suggest you could still get film for it.

A moving subject was all but impossible as this 1967 shot below of a 9F at Walton Old Jct in Warrington proved. Sad because this was 'real' steam for me.

I was fortunate enough to meet Bill Anderson on several occasions, always a pleasure to meet one of my early influences.
And if you look at some of Ivo Peters shots you will actually see his fellow photographers in some of his shots - have a look at Farewell to Steam in the North West, and people appear in Gifford's shots too probably inentionally, it didn't seem to bother them too much. The important thing is to remember it is just a hobby and one we share with a lot of other people and can all enjoy if we respect what others are trying to do.

 

Here's one I took with my Brownie 127 in 1962. Typical, just as I pressed the shutter....a bloody Duchess appeared!!

 

The issue of the shutter sound from the snappers is no issue for me, as I use a 8 metre aux cable so I can set my mic well away from the cannon fire. Majority of photographers I come into contact now with are very respectable.

 

I think it's generally good manners if there's someone there before you, then that's up to you to work round it, a little polite word can work wonders, 'Get out of my bloody way!' will get short shrift from me. An 'Excuse me please, would you just mind moving to one side please?' In a Sgt Wilson type tone is more likely to comply! Some of the worst photters/video men I've found are those on the train, It's no fun trying to squeeze down a Churchward Toplight and there's a prat videoing and you say 'excuse me please' and they think by shifting forward a 1/2 inch you can get through that gap!

 

People who have no courtesy or common sense really wind me up. There is an idiot down here in Cornwall who persists on photographic everything from a step ladder, even on station platforms - he's been known to set up directly in front of a group
of photographers and climb his ladder, and give particularly venomous responses when the assembled group want to throw him infront of whatever he wants to photograph..

I just don't get it - photography by its very nature should be luck of the draw and heaven forbid ENJOYABLE and if you don't get the perfect position or shot this time, so what? It will happen again, and if it doesn't, you missed out - never mind!

Let's face it, you get maybe 10-15 seconds to take a shot of a fast moving train and in that time you haven't even seen it yourself - the experience of the event is squeezed into a digital picture.

I prefer to take less shot and also take them using a remote, so I can enjoy the scene (isn't that the point) and hopefully get something sensible from the camera..


Maybe I'm just not dedicated enough!!!!!!!


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I turned up at a location last week to find two already there.It was limited in space but we worked something out very well. Then a lady came along and she volunteered to kneel in front of me. All very civilised. She was very pleased with the low angle shot too she'd ,never thought of that.

There is one aspect of it all though that not much can be done about and those with videos have my sympathy. As already mentioned there's the clicking of the stills especially if they are fired off at 6 -10fps in bursts. I was at another location several weeks back and the chap already there with his tripod set up told me that the last time he was at the crossing along came mom and three children. Expecting a bit much to ask kids not to be be vocal but mom agreed. The loco rounded the bend and mom shouted excitedly, " Here it is, here it is" Lol. You just have to go with it. Most of the locations I go to it's often just myself or maybe a couple more so no problems. What has to be borne in mind nowadays is that everyone and their auntie or dog has a decent camera/video so you just have to go with the flow.

The worst occasion for me was a dad with his 30-odd year old son who clearly learning difficulties. We chatted..inly us there on the platform and as Braunton Lord Dowding) rounded the bend the son stepped right in front of me and he was 6'0' and large. Needless to say I didn't get the shot. His dad apologised but I thought well, for me it's a photo lost, I'll get that loco again but he has his son to cope with every day. I just thought, well, that's life and if that's the worst that happens I can cope with that.

Reference post by BillyR.I use a remoter now for that very reason. I now get to see the locos and it's so much more enjoyable rather than an exercise in photography. My wife was always telling me that all I ever saw of a holiday was through the viewfinder of the video. Lol. I took her point and cut it down a lot.

 

I had a case a few years ago at Ropley when we were all in the yard waiting to photograph 92212 as it left for Alton.

As it departed my younger brother, who was only about 13, decided to go for a lower shot. As the 9F left we both checked that nobody was behind him so he didn't block their shot when he stood up; there wasn't. As the loco and carriages were passing he stood up believing nobody was there. However it turns out while we were taking our photos a man who I think was on the train had nipped down and stood behind my brother. So when he stood up, he got in the photos so the bloke decided to shout st him - which can be quite intimidating for a young teenager.

I'm sure we did nothing wrong as we checked and he turned up late. And shouting at a child was uncalled for - he was quite upset afterwards.

 

There's always at least one.

 

A point if travelling abroad - beware of German enthusiasts who are so snap-happy that they often forget that other photographers also want a photograph.

My worst case - however - was with a touring group of British photographers during a visit to the Harz network. The tour was heading for Nordhausen and at the crossing point it was learned that the incoming service was - unusually - facing to Wernigerode hence the chance of a rare shot taken from the side of the southbound loco. Cue discussion with other photographers in the group - most of whom understood the opportunity and formed a gallery beside the southbound loco BUT some wanted to get the full frame shot of the incoming service and refused to change location. To compound matters they refused to move to the right to allow those by the southbound train to get their shot because they thought that the intended composition wasn't worth the effort hence their move would have made no difference. HOW can you deal with these inconsiderate persons ? ( I hesitate to call them photographers as their lack of understanding suggests a lack of photographic consideration)

 

In my experience they are in the minority though and as for poor behaviour*/not seeing a better shot, I've had enough Brits do that to me to last me a lifetime. Poor etiquette is not the preserve of any one nationality.
*An example. On my SA trip in 2002. I'd moved forward from the gallery to do my share of "gardening." On returning to the gallery my place had been taken and the person refused to let me back in. Needless to say he was a Brit, never did one bit of pruning on the whole tour but was the first to complain if the undergrowth was intruding into the shot. He did the same to another guy later on in the tour. In all of the Plandampfs I've attended in recent years I've only had bad behaviour from German photographers on three occasions but equally I've had the occasional Brit, Austrian, Dutch, French and Japanese photographer too misbehave.

 

Inconsiderate = someone who doesn't have the same opinion as you? There is no right and wrong here.

 

Agreed. Frustrating though it may be, if you move position but others do not, you have no right to complain.