I have seen some great footage of UP 4014's recent journeys. And I have seen some which irritate me to no end. So, I have some suggestions: 1) If setting up a video camera, and also wishing to employ your DSLR, STEP AWAY from the video camera when shooting your stills!!! Listening to your shutter releases RUINS the video. It only takes a couple of seconds and a few feet. Why aren't you intelligent enough to think of this concept? Listening to those multiple shutter releases SUCKS! CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. STOP IT! Move just a few feet! What is so difficult to understand about this idea? 2) SHUT UP!!! I have no interest in listening to your commentary. Especially the moronic four letter words. I want to see and hear the train, NOT YOU!!! I repeat- SHUT UP!!! You sound like an idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3) DO NOT WALK IN FRONT OF ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPHER. Unless they wave you by, go BEHIND them. You SELFISH, self centered JERK. You exemplify today's world and it's decay. You are NOT the only person there. You are not privileged. Show the world just a tiny bit of respect, a micro-moment of class. WALK BEHIND their camera, again, YOU JERK.
I have been railfanning for most of my life, but I think it inevitable that there will always be the selfish fan who doesn't care about you or your photos or films. Their goal is to get the best shot for themselves, damn everyone else. Much of my 'fanning has been done with traction and electric railways, and with mostly fans from our organization. We were more or less self-policing when on fan trips, and if one was being a real boor, they were told about it. I have seen fans tossed from a trip for obnoxious behavior. Enjoy the hobby, ignore the jerks. Charlie
Unfortunately, with today's social ideas, this is no longer "correctness". If we complain, we are the bums. Not the actual offenders. This is why, to enjoy it, I try to find isolated places. Where nobody else will be present and running off at their mouth or walking in front of me. 'Me, me, me first' is common now, not as it once was, an exception.
I agree totally with 2 and 3 but 1 is sometimes harder to do than it sounds. I used to do it until a sudden gust of wind one day cost me a video camera so after that, I learned to live with the clicks. When it comes to chasing fan trips, the me mentality has been around far longer than the current millennials. What's new seems to be the idea that it's just fine to have no consideration voice wise and the four letter deal is getting way worse. I don't use 'em and never talk when I see someone shooting video. It should just be common courtesy.
Judging by the poor footage I often see posted on YouTube, it's apparent that a number of "videographers" have much to learn about technique. And what's up with the lack of simple editing? Many videos begin and minutes tick by before a headlight appears, another minute is lost before the train passes and the viewer is then treated to a mind-numbing view of endless auto racks or stacks passing by. I don't spend much time with modern videos, but thankfully there are a handful of contributors who know what they're doing.
Dear "parents"- please spend the requisite time with your kids, to at least teach them this small part of life....
yes, i'm glad i'm not the only one. yes our first real experience of rail fanning was 4014 and yes there was one... wanders about, in front of everyone, over the tracks... then wants to squeeze in, cameras roll, train appear and starts the intro... absolute JERK!
Decades ago while chasing an N&W 1218 trip, a friend and I stopped and politely stood amidst the fans in the photo line. As the train passed, a guy adjacent with a video camera bellowed "I'M PANNING" and tried unsuccessfully to shove my friend aside. My friend and I were aghast at the guy's behavior. Railfanning shouldn't be a competitive sport or contact sport, but some arrogant fans make it so.
