Any people have good enough photos for Railpictures.net

I tried to appeal a photo because they said I had used backlight when on that shot I purposely set up flash to capture the best shot. I appealed it and they inulted me on the email and said to consider my account closed. I am going to RRpicturearchives.net. I won't take it anymore.

atsf sp wrote:I tried to appeal a photo because they said I had used backlight when on that shot I purposely set up flash to capture the best shot. I appealed it and they inulted me on the email and said to consider my account closed. I am going to RRpicturearchives.net. I won't take it anymore.

You know, I normally don't reply to this sort of posting, especially on another forum, but I won't sit idly by and watch you drag our name through the mud without letting people know the full story here.

In short, this is the image that you appealed:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject. ... 5839&key=0

These are the other 5 rejected images that you've had over the past few days:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject. ... 1246306442
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject. ... 3392&key=0
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject. ... =849496660
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject. ... =451297068
http://www.railpictures.net/viewreject. ... 6191&key=0

All of these photos are (obviously) well below the standard of quality threshold that any website or magazine with any minimum quality requirement whatsoever would be looking for.

You appealed the first image in a very rude tone, telling us that we have no idea what we're talking about, that the image was "composed" as you wanted it, and giving us an ultimatum to accept the photo. I replied telling you that, in my opinion, the quality of your uploads has gotten worse and worse since you started submitting photos a few months back. I stand by those comments. They may not be politically correct, but from where I stand, they're accurate. I will not sit by and watch you fire insults at our team, nor will I tolerate the rudeness that you've thrown our way in several instances in recent weeks. Throw that in with the consistently horrid quality of the material you choose to submit, and the fact that you show absolutely zero a) understanding of what we're looking for or b) attempts to improve your work, it is a waste of everyone's time involved to continue screening your images, rejecting the appeal of every single photo, and dealing with the attitude you've chosen to display to our entire team. Thus, your account was closed.

With over 500 images, 300 comments, 200 member contact e-mails, 75 appeals, and 100 corrections screened every day -- not to mention coding, maintaining the 5 servers running the website and all of the other admin duties we have -- we simply don't have the time, nor any motivation whatsoever, to continue dealing with your nonsense further.

I hope you find a much better home at RRPA.

Chris Kilroy
Editor, RailPictures.Net

Wow I think that was a bit harsh, Chris. Coming on here and attacking him, and not only that but then to make another site look inferior to yours, that is low.

Kaback9 wrote:Wow I think that was a bit harsh, Chris. Coming on here and attacking him, and not only that but then to make another site look inferior to yours, that is low.

Huh?

I didn't attack him, I simply responded to his original message with our side of the story. I know that kids your (and his) age are looking for positive reinforcement, but I'm not going to lie and tell him his photos are great (or even passable) when clearly they aren't. That's no different than telling someone they can sing when they can't, telling a kid he's good at sports when he sucks, or anything else. It serves no purpose and in the end does more harm than good.

As far as "making another site look inferior to ours" ... well, my jaw is on the floor with that one. Where did I write a single negative word (or anything, for that matter) about any other websites? He said he'd had it with us, and was going to RRPA. I told him I hope he finds a better home there than he did at RP. ?????

Not going to get into a pissing match with you, there was no reason for you to come on here and have to tell your side of the story if he said he was done with the site, no reason to bring his photos on to the site that he did not show in here. Not to mention your tone with "good luck at RRPA" sounds a bit rude.

Kaback9 wrote:Not going to get into a pissing match with you, there was no reason for you to come on here and have to tell your side of the story if he said he was done with the site, no reason to bring his photos on to the site that he did not show in here. Not to mention your tone with "good luck at RRPA" sounds a bit rude.

Sure there was. He claimed that I insulted him then kicked him off the site all over a simple little innocent appeal, which couldn't be further from the truth. He fired the first shot, and I fired back. I'm tired of sitting back while RP.net rejects spew outright lies and try to rally the troops behind the "cause" and make us look like the bad guys. Besides, he can be seen throughout this thread complaining that we unfairly reject his photos, so I thought I should show a little sample of the quality work he's been uploading. And while I never realized that you could decipher someone's "tone" from an internet posting, if my "tone" sounded rude to you, I apologize. I'll be sure to write "Get bent at RRPA" next time.

I admire you for taking up for your similarly aged, similarly skilled, and geographically close friend, but this all comes off as a little bit ridiculous, Brandon.

You don't know my age for starters also no need to insult my photography skills by trying to hide it in an I admire you spiel, I take rail photos for fun, those who are concerned with getting the perfect shot either really need to have their ego stroked or really never got the love they needed as a kid and have to compensate for it by having that perfect shot.

By coming on here and speaking as you did you hurt Railpictures.net in my mind. If you were in no way what so ever affiliated with RP.net I might have let this go, was he right for being rude in some of his appeals no! But I'm sure after being rejected for the umpteenth time he has a bit of anger in him. I'm sure if you went into any other railraod related forum there would be someone angry as he is at RP.net what are you going to continue your crusade in those places next? You would have been better off not saying anything.

I was new to RP once, I got a few rejections, sure I got a little dissapointed but I kept trying. Now since 2007 I have over 200 photos and have gained recognition from people all over the world. I think RP has made me a better photographer, be it trains or whatever else I take photos of. What is wrong with getting the perfect shot??? I believe in doing the best I can in everything, I dont think you will ever be anything in life if you dont.

I strive at things that matter in life not a hobby.

Not if that hobby turns into a job one day.

I don't plan on it,maybe I'll fight for photographer rights some day as an attorney as thats what I am studying to become, do you really want to go on like this, the way things are going I'll have this thread locked up in a matter of minutes.

An attorney, huh? I wanted to be one of those a while back. Seems like a pretty comfortable life; do well for yourself and your family, have enough cash around to not worry too much about the world. Before I go too far aside, I have to agree with WS2 on what he said. See, a long time ago (we're talking maybe age 8, so I guess really not too long) I was standing around next to the tracks with my dad, and that day we by accident happened to have the family's little Kodak Star box camera lying around in the car. I wanted a picture of a train to put on the wall in my room, so as the gates went down I grabbed the camera, ran out of the car, stuck my grubby little nose up to the camera and pressed the shutter. I still have that first picture, and I've gotta admit, for being taken with an idiot-proof camera, it looks like garbage. In my teen years, with my first steady job in high school, I scrounged up enough to buy a D70 right after they hit the market. It may seem as if I'm rambling, but the point of the matter is, I really wouldn't have a reason to be where I am today without really taking advantage of what I learned in photography from doing rail photography. Without railroads, I probably would have had no reason to pick up any sort of camera, much less develop my photography into a form of semi-sustainable income. And the one place I can say, hands down, I've learned the most? Railpictures.net. I got on there, all full of piss and vinegar, and I got knocked down a bit. But I listened to what others gave for advice, held my own but didn't anger anyone, learned from my experiences, and grew not only as a rail photographer, but all of my photography in general. The way I see it, it's not like some people say, "a competition to get the best shot." It's a way to keep challenging yourself with new ideas and new experiences, and striving to do better in something you really enjoy. If you lift weights, you don't keep bench pressing 100 lbs. for the rest of your life, do you? First off, that would get boring, and secondly, you probably wouldn't get any stronger. Railpictures.net is constantly a challenge, that's no lie. But if you really enjoy something, there's nothing wrong with a good challenge every now and then. It's good to prove to yourself that you can continue growing with something you enjoy. And yeah, if you get good enough, it can turn into a job. I thank where I'm at now for what I did with RP, and hope to make a steady job out of it in the [somewhat dying] photojournalism field down the road. But I'm not picking that career for the riches, cause if you're looking to be a photojournalist for the money, you've looked in the wrong place. I know I'm going to do this as a career because day in and day out, I know work will be a new challenge, and there's nothing more satisfying that accomplishing those challenges.
So guys, don't knock RP. They don't baby anyone, but then neither does the real world. You have to make the cut in the real world in anything you do, or you get left behind.

W.D. Fane wrote:So guys, don't knock RP. They don't baby anyone, but then neither does the real world. You have to make the cut in the real world in anything you do, or you get left behind.

Exactly. I've been at it for just over 2 years now, and have come a long way, primarily due to Railpictures.net. It can be frustrating sometimes, as they do have pretty high standards - but they can help you grow your skills tremendously in a relatively short period of time. If you get emotionally attached to your photos and insist they are perfectly fine as-is, that's fine - just understand that you're never going to get any better, and frankly, you shouldn't care what other people think anyway (including Railpictures.net) - getting upset over what others think when YOU think your shots are perfectly fine as-is is pretty hypocritical in my opinion.

And frankly, bashing Railpictures.net and the people who run it, and then getting up in arms when one of those people turns around and call you out is both illogical and illiberal.

Kaback9 wrote:You don't know my age for starters also no need to insult my photography skills by trying to hide it in an I admire you spiel

You're right. The fact that you've had 2 photos accepted out of over 100 uploaded should have no bearing on your perceived position in this conversation. Regarding your age, your RP profile says "Occupation: Student" which, shockingly, I had pegged before I even checked it earlier.

Kaback9 wrote:I take rail photos for fun

As do most of us...

Kaback9 wrote:those who are concerned with getting the perfect shot either really need to have their ego stroked or really never got the love they needed as a kid and have to compensate for it by having that perfect shot.

Or... just like to do things to the best of their ability. If you're satisfied with mediocrity under the guise of "doing it cuz it's fun," that's fine. It definitely lumps you into a group with most members of your generation today. But to say that people who give their all to produce the best result possible "need to have their ego stroked or really never got the love they needed as a kid and have to compensate for it by having that perfect shot" is outright insulting, classless, and shows your true nature. As far as I'm concerned, that statement alone has completely discredited you.

We, at RP.net, are not interested in mediocrity, excuses, or anything else you kids today like to throw around as excuses as to why your stuff isn't up to par. We have grown into the largest rail interest site on the internet (bigger than Trains.Com, TrainOrders, and every other rail site) because of the high standards of acceptance we employ. Still, keeping those standards in mind, we've accepted almost 250,000 (a quarter million) rail photos from over 4,500 contributors. Are we perfect? Absolutely not. I accept a number of appeals every single day, and I know that my fellow admins accept appeals on photos I've rejected. All we ask of our contributors is that they give it their best effort, and learn from their mistakes. Some, like Walter S who posted earlier in this thread, have developed into absolutely outstanding photographers at the tender age of 17. Others choose to make excuses, bash the site, bash the staff, and take their ball and go home. Which direction you decide to go is ultimately up to you.

You don't understand there was no incident here until you came on and decided to fight back, you would have been better off just leaving it alone, folks here would have taken care of it. He was just blowing off some steam because he was frustrated. That is why I'm arguing here, what do you gain from coming on here and saying what you did? You really showed him. I'm having a good laugh over this because all your proving is if I continue to say something you have to have a come back.


atsf sp,
Keep doing what your doing, and have fun with it.



Note to Mod: I think its time to lock this one up.