A Contest

[Peter Dougherty]

Hello all.

 

For the 2010 release of my book Tracks of the NYC Subway I'd like to hold a contest for the front cover image. All the previous covers have been my own photos, but since front-window views are essentially a thing of the past--and given the fact I rarely get into the city any more, I'd like to see what other railfans can come up with.

 

The rules are very simple. First and foremost, you must have LEGAL access to the place/thing you're going to photograph. No sneaking in to snap a picture where you have no business being! Second, you have be the copyright holder of the picture. In other words, only send in images you've taken yourself!!

 

I'm looking for photographs that artistically depict trains, switches and signals, preferably from a front-window or track-level view or (for those who can legally access these places) artistic yard photos. Since my book depicts the current state of the system, please no redbird pictures or R38s, slant 40s or anything that won't be on the rails in 2010 or beyond.

 

The winner will receive 2 free copies of my book as well as a high-quality (photo reproduction as opposed to the color xerography I use in production) copy of the front-cover by itself for framing, etc. He/she will also get full credit on the inside-front-cover of the book.

 

Technical Specs:

Your originals can be from film or digital, but the final image MUST be of sufficient quality for print reproduction. I'm looking for 300 dpi (without upscaling) quality for a 9 x 11.5" image. If you have a 10 MP digital camera that should be fine. I can do some post work myself if that's not your thing (if you tell me it's OK for me to alter it, of course!).

 

What I'd like you to submit at first are smaller JPEG IMAGES. Once I select the winners (I will choose two - one for 2010, one for 2011), I will ask that the winning submission be either in RAW or TIF format.

 

Since I will be going to print before Thanksgiving, I'd like to have this in no later than 2359 local-time on September 15th 2009 so that I can set the type over the image and have it printed, etc.

 

Please feel free to contact me or submit as many photos as you want to pjd@panix.com.

 

Thanks and good luck to one and all!

[Y2Julio]

I don't shoot in RAW only JPG Fine so I wouldn't have any RAW files for you. Would that be a problem?

[Peter Dougherty]

I don't shoot in RAW only JPG Fine so I wouldn't have any RAW files for you. Would that be a problem?

 

Not by itself, no, but the end result is that I need an image large enough and of good-enough quality to be printed with a 150 lpi screen (300 dpi), and big enough to be usable in case I need to crop it, etc.

 

I can't use two or three megapixel first-generation-digital image at all (at least not without massive upscaling with Genuine Fractals). If your winning entry is on a 4x6 printed snapshot (from a negative or slide) I will pay for a negative-scan or slide-scan at the lab of your choice for the digital conversion. If you're well into the digital domain already, a Photoshop file would be ideal. But that's down the road.

 

For now, I wanna see what ya got . I don't want a bunch of 40Mb TIFs coming down for submission. Just send me JPEGs (any quality), so long as the master image, if selected as the winner, can be reproduced properly.

 

Heck, if your submission is already online on Photobucket or Flickr or Picassa, that's fine too. Saves disk space for me <grin>. Just gimme the link!

[Y2Julio]

My D40 shoots @ 3,008 × 2,000 (6 megapixels) so I imagine that should suffice? Well in any case, I'll email you the compressed JPGs that i do have on me right now. Remember, I do have them unedited, full resolution and without my copyright on them if you decide to use em.

[Peter Dougherty]

My D40 shoots @ 3,008 × 2,000 (6 megapixels) so I imagine that should suffice? Well in any case, I'll email you the compressed JPGs that i do have on me right now. Remember, I do have them unedited, full resolution and without my copyright on them if you decide to use em.

 

That's probably about the smallest size I can use as-is. I can up-size slightly if necessary. The fourth edition cover is 3405 x 2625 pixels and it's both cropped a fair amount and upsized with Genuine Fractals. Note that Photoshop's upsizing algorithms are nowhere near as good as GF, so please don't use Photoshop alone.

 

It was originally shot on a 2MP Canon Powershot G1 (my first digital camera) and the amount of digital massaging necessary to make it somewhat-acceptable was insane. I won't go through that again unless the image is so spectacular that it blows me away .

 

I agree NOT to do anything with images sent to me other than decide which is one's going to be used. All copyrights will be respected. Feel free to embed a watermark if you want on the submission.

 

Let me be clear, though - I'm not looking for pictures of trains-from-platform shots, run-bys, or generic yard pictures.

 

If anybody has high-res tower shots (obtained without trespassing) or other interesting "behind-the-scenes" images, I may consider using them on internal pages (with photo-by and copyright credit) as well.

[Q25toJamaica]

Do you want attachments or links?

And would R32s count?

[VinnyBrooklyn]

Peter it sounds like fun, I only shoot in Raw so quality would not be an issue.

[Harry]

I have two decent photos that I will submit myself.

[Peter Dougherty]

Looking forward to seeing them. Remember--think "creative."

[Peter Dougherty]

Hi Everone.

Sorry for the delay in posting. We have a winner in the contest for the cover image for 2010's Tracks of the NYC Subway. The winning entry was submitted by Anthony Maimone. It's a great image of a #1 train exiting the 242nd St. station by the yard leads, coming into 238th Street.

 

I have been trying to contact Anthony via the e-mail address through which he submitted his photographs but I've yet to hear from him. If you're reading this (or anybody knows how to get hold of him), please let me know ASAP.

 

Thanks Kindly!