Plano Rail Station

[Rick Waldroup]

Plano Rail Station - Plano, Texas - February 4, 2009

This is from a new project, Riding the Rails.

 

[abraxas]

Hi Rick, long time no see.

Tripped out shot. I've been looking at it awhile. The foreshortening thing going on with the legs has me really studying the photo. I thought I remembered engineer boots having the buckle on the outside, but that would mean the right leg is the left boot?

Can you tell us more about the project?

 

[Rick Waldroup]

How are you, my old friend?

Yep, it is the way he is boarding the train- his legs look weird, like they are criss-crossed or something.

I found myself having to start riding commuter trains in the Dallas - Ft. Worth area late last year and I started documenting the experience, especially the people who ride the trains. It has turned into quite an interesting venture.

Most of the project is being shot with a Ricoh GRDII, which is almost the perfect camera for this type of work. I also use a Lumix L1 with a Leica 14-50 zoom, for some of the shots. Here is a link to the project, Riding the Rails Photo Gallery by Rick Waldroup at pbase.com

 

[KvnO]

Hey, cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.

 

[ernie]

altough i do not find this photo perticularly interesting i had a look at that link you posted. and was i glad i did, there are some really good ones in there. especially the one of the janitor with his mop giving directions to a passanger, the silhouette one. supurb.
what i want to ask you though: how do you get such close-up portraits of people without invading their space? i always feel uncomfortable the second they start looking at me and my camera. do you go ahead anyway? or do you just have a good zoom lens?

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Hey, cool stuff. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked them.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

altough i do not find this photo perticularly interesting i had a look at that link you posted. and was i glad i did, there are some really good ones in there. especially the one of the janitor with his mop giving directions to a passanger, the silhouette one. supurb.
what i want to ask you though: how do you get such close-up portraits of people without invading their space? i always feel uncomfortable the second they start looking at me and my camera. do you go ahead anyway? or do you just have a good zoom lens?

Thanks for the kind words, Ernie. I have shot most of this project with the Ricoh GRDII which has a fixed focal length lens, comparable to a 28mm lens on a regular 35mm film camera. So, I am pretty damn close on a lot of those shots. Some of them were shot from the hip, but most of them were shot with me looking through the viewfinder. The GRD is a very small camera, a very compact P&S that fits in a pocket. I have an external viewfinder that slips on the hot shoe, so I almost never use the monitor on the back of the camera. The GRD is a damn fine street shooter. It has an excellent B&W mode on it that produces B&W images better than my Nikons ever did. While in the B&W mode, it also shoots a RAW image as well. As for focus, it has a snap mode which is nothing more than hyperfocal distance focusing. Once in the Snap mode, there is absolutely no shutter lag at all, because the focus is fixed, the camera is never trying to focus the lens.

I simply love this camera. It has it's drawbacks, as all P&S cameras do, but Ricoh got it right with this one.

I just pretty much shoot whatever and whoever I want. Sometimes they notice me and pay me no mind. Other times they see me shoot them and ask what I am doing. I give them my business card and explain the project and most of the folks have been very receptive to having their picture made.