Good Enough? Yes!

Heard this saying before? 'A good photographer never shows his bad pictures'. I paused, thinking of that saying as I was editing these photos for my upcoming book project. Then I thought of another saying - 'every picture tells a story'. This eastbound - a ground-pounding GMD-1 trio - tells a story. I could just sit on them, not share them, and therefore never let them see the light of day. But wait, this isn't Railpictures.ca, this is my own project. So I decided to ask a focus group on Facebook. The unscientific results follow - the answers are insightful, amusing, modest, forthright and earnest. The question was: What do you think, sit on 'em or share 'em?

Share! Sometimes these are our only records, only photographs, all we have. I cringe thinking that in a quest to present only the perfect we lose the personal story told in photos like these. - CM

It suggests a time and place, not a photo contest, I say use them. -BS

Use it! Somewhere out there is a picture of the Turbo Train in Nelson, BC that no one will ever see because the photographer thought it was overexposed . -CW

Share them no matter what anyone thinks! - MW

I personally like it when photographers share roughs amongst their diamonds. It adds character and tells a story! - JB

If I didn't share my questionable shots, I'd have very little to share! - MH

I think they're beautiful! - EH

Trains don't stop and wait for you to compose your shots. That's doubly true for photographing noteworthy consists. So, so long as the photo isn't completely terrible, I say post it. – NL

Share them. Your pictures tell a story about what you could see back in the 1970's and 1980's. - NB

Share them! - SB

Something else I always heard... never throw out your bad pictures. There will come a time where where they could be irreplaceable. -MT

When I first started photographing elevators I was using a point and shoot and was very inexperienced. Since then my equipment and skill have improved but many of those early shots can never be replaced as many of those old giants have since fallen. - MZ

I'll take a poor photo of something that doesn't exist any more, any time. - SB

Some of these photos were taken with a new-to-me simple camera - plastic viewfinder, hand-cranked, subject to blurring and no manual controls. It was 110 format - remember that one - tiny negative. And I was 14 years old while taking the first ones.

The people have spoken. Those shots that are not completely terrible will be in this book! All of 'em!

Look up, look way up.

Eric