Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
June 01, 2012
Trackside with Trains
I entered another "Trackside with Trains" reader favorites poll from Trains magazine. The theme for this installment was Trains Along the Water. I took this picture in Alviso, a small formerly unincorporated area of San Jose. It was a cool, still, March morning. The water was undisturbed except for the faint steps of a few waterfowl. Their mirrored reflections can be seen in the lower left corner of the picture. Last time I submitted a picture to "Trackside with Trains" back in March it garnered enough votes for a respectable third place showing. I'm crossing my fingers for a slightly better showing this time. I'll update and link when I hear the results.
It's been quite some time since I've been out anywhere taking pictures of trains (or anything other than grand kids). I will have to remedy that situation very soon. I need some ferroequinology paparazzo therapy.
Update - 6/1/2012
Well this is rather disappointing. I didn't even make the cut. There were three reader submissions, none of which were mine. There's always the next one!
April 30, 2012
Trains Magazine Contribution
Recently I submitted one of my pictures to Trains Magazine for their "Trackside with Trains" feature. It's a 'vote for your favorite' kind of feature. The theme was titled "Yellow". The idea is to submit a rail related photo that has something to do with the color yellow. I went through my portfolio and narrowed it down to a couple of pictures. After agonizing over the decision (well, not really) I chose a picture I took in Alviso. My entry tallied enough votes for a respectable third place.
Back in the mid to late 1800's Alviso was destined to be a port city. Shipping from San Francisco and beyond would arrive in Alviso for distribution throughout the south San Francisco bay area. At the time the area was a large agricultural region. However, the hopes of it becoming a booming port city were dashed when the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad bypassed Alviso. The growth in transporting commodities by rail was the death knell for Alviso. The building captured in the image is the former Laine's Grocery in the late 1800's. The building was in use up until major flooding caused severe damage in 1983.
April 16, 2011
January 21, 2009
Cool Morning Sunrise
Westbound Amtrak Capitol Corridor #523
Originally uploaded by sharkzƒan
Just wanted to share a sunrise with folks because I have really been neglectful of my blog as of late. We have a grandson on the way so we've been pretty busy with baby shower preparations and just general grandparent stuff. That sounds really wierd to be speaking of myself as a grandparent! Ack!
December 14, 2008
Remiss In My Duties
It's been 10 days since I posted. I've been on vacation so I guess I really have no valid excuse. I will say that I have the Christmas tree finally completed. Now it's a battle to keep the cat from destroying it.
I haven't been completely devoid of doing anything meaningful. Sunday 12/7 Mrs. Farfromgruvin and I went down to the Santa Clara CalTrain station to see the holiday train. It was a nice change of pace.
The station was open so families had their kids inside looking at the model railroad display in the historic building. Coffee, hot chocolate and cider were for sale. The Salvation Army had carolers and a band playing. Toys For Tots had a big toy drive going on.
Wide eyed kids all over the place. They were expending energy at a phenominal rate of speed. It's been awhile since we've been around a cluster of young'uns like that.
It was just brisk enough to have a wintery feel to it. It has been uncommonly mild this December (NOT due to global warming). I will definitely be placing this activity on my annual Christmas event schedule. More importantly, we have dibs on the grandbaby!! Probably not this next year since he will only be about seven months old. But Christmas 2010...
I haven't been completely devoid of doing anything meaningful. Sunday 12/7 Mrs. Farfromgruvin and I went down to the Santa Clara CalTrain station to see the holiday train. It was a nice change of pace.
The station was open so families had their kids inside looking at the model railroad display in the historic building. Coffee, hot chocolate and cider were for sale. The Salvation Army had carolers and a band playing. Toys For Tots had a big toy drive going on.
Wide eyed kids all over the place. They were expending energy at a phenominal rate of speed. It's been awhile since we've been around a cluster of young'uns like that.
It was just brisk enough to have a wintery feel to it. It has been uncommonly mild this December (NOT due to global warming). I will definitely be placing this activity on my annual Christmas event schedule. More importantly, we have dibs on the grandbaby!! Probably not this next year since he will only be about seven months old. But Christmas 2010...
September 08, 2008
Aloha! Part II
I took the above shot in the Iao Valley Park. I'm not sure what kind of flower but it's beautiful, eh? We are in the middle of seven glorious days on Maui. So far we have been to the Haleakala Crater,
the Iao Valley.
the Sugar Cane Train in Lahaina (Lahaina, Kaanapali and Pacific Railroad),
The engineer that operated this steam locomotive was a twenty-something woman!
July 17, 2008
A Hole In The Sky
I was working in the field up the peninsula in Daly City and Colma and was coming over the hill to get to highway 101 when I came across this incredible light show. It was a very foggy morning. The small peninsula of land in the center of the picture is just south of Candlestick Park, the former home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team. It was truly a spectacular display! I took a series of pictures over about six minutes. I've posted them on my Flickr page. Check them out if you'd like.
The reason I was up there was because we were trying to determine if a guy we have contracted to distribute one of our publications is just ripping us off by picking up the papers and dumping them (or recycling them for $.08 a pound). He gets a flat fee weekly to distribute and we have audited and found no papers at the locations that he is telling us he is selling at. Thieving dirtbag!
The reason I was up there was because we were trying to determine if a guy we have contracted to distribute one of our publications is just ripping us off by picking up the papers and dumping them (or recycling them for $.08 a pound). He gets a flat fee weekly to distribute and we have audited and found no papers at the locations that he is telling us he is selling at. Thieving dirtbag!
June 10, 2008
Hired For My Dream Job
Well, sort of.
For roughly the last 10 months I have rekindled my interest in all things railroads. Around February I had actually put in an application at the Union Pacific Railroad website. There were openings for "Train Crew Service" in Watsonville, Milpitas and Oakland. I had applied for all three to see what would transpire. I received an invitation to a reading comprehension test in April. I took the test scoring eighty five percent. It was a twenty question test to be completed in thirty minutes. Essentially you read from the freight handlers manual and then chose the appropriate answer. It was an interesting experience since this was a completely foreign area of knowledge for me.
A couple of weeks after I took the test I received an invitation to a hiring session at the Santa Cruz/Scott's Valley Hilton. They gave the lowdown on what the job was all about. Even though I had applied for specific locations, the job actually was a position in the Roseville service area. The geographic points of this service area stretched from Klamath at the Oregon border on the north side down to San Luis Obispo in the south and east to Winnemucca, Nevada. Once your training was over after about 8 weeks, you "mark up". You then bid with your seniority on open positions. Since you have little to no seniority, you may wind up bidding on a slot in Winnemucca, Nevada. You have 48 hours to report (on your own dime, I might add) to the location and find a place to stay. Admittedly, our HR rep doing the information session said a lot of folks sleep in their cars when they first arrive at their new location. However, there is a caveat. You could be on the way to this Winnemucca location and your cell phone could ring. It's the Crewmaster telling you you've been bumped off your newlty aquired position. Time to find a new job to bid on. You find an open shift in Bakersfield. Nine hours into your drive to get there, your phone rings again. Guess what? You've been bumped again. The process starts over. To top things off, you haven't even worked yet so you are not getting paid for any of this. The example is a worst case scenario but it could happen.
There is also a chance that once your training is over you could be furloughed because there are no open positions available. Accarding to the HR rep, thirty percent of the Union Pacific workforce is retiring in the next five years. That would seem to be good odds for moving up in seniority rather quickly. That doesn't mean that the service area you apply for has openings already. They may be hiring to prepare for future retirements.
The discussion also involved benefits. They spoke of co-pays for medical and prescriptions. Currently mine are infinitesmal compared to the described benefits of UP. The kicker was the vacation accrual. After two years you get a week. Nothing out of the ordinary. Four years, two weeks. Nine years, three weeks. Seventeen years for four weeks. Last but not least, twenty-five years years before you get five weeks. This may sound like a good deal to some. To me it was the straw that broke the camels back. I thought long and hard about taking a pay cut. I figured I could do it. I thought about the co-pays for doctor visits and prescriptions. That would hurt a lot. The vacation schedule put a nail in the coffin of my dream job. With the inconvieniences and disruptions in your life and that of your family, the adjustment I would have to make to accept my dream job offer was more than I could handle.
At least I can say I got hired for my dream job! I'll have to keep my part-time "job" as a foamer for now!
(edit 7/22/08) The title link takes you to an article by a fellow blogger, railfan, photographer and general rabel rouser that has been in the same situation regarding jobs.
For roughly the last 10 months I have rekindled my interest in all things railroads. Around February I had actually put in an application at the Union Pacific Railroad website. There were openings for "Train Crew Service" in Watsonville, Milpitas and Oakland. I had applied for all three to see what would transpire. I received an invitation to a reading comprehension test in April. I took the test scoring eighty five percent. It was a twenty question test to be completed in thirty minutes. Essentially you read from the freight handlers manual and then chose the appropriate answer. It was an interesting experience since this was a completely foreign area of knowledge for me.
A couple of weeks after I took the test I received an invitation to a hiring session at the Santa Cruz/Scott's Valley Hilton. They gave the lowdown on what the job was all about. Even though I had applied for specific locations, the job actually was a position in the Roseville service area. The geographic points of this service area stretched from Klamath at the Oregon border on the north side down to San Luis Obispo in the south and east to Winnemucca, Nevada. Once your training was over after about 8 weeks, you "mark up". You then bid with your seniority on open positions. Since you have little to no seniority, you may wind up bidding on a slot in Winnemucca, Nevada. You have 48 hours to report (on your own dime, I might add) to the location and find a place to stay. Admittedly, our HR rep doing the information session said a lot of folks sleep in their cars when they first arrive at their new location. However, there is a caveat. You could be on the way to this Winnemucca location and your cell phone could ring. It's the Crewmaster telling you you've been bumped off your newlty aquired position. Time to find a new job to bid on. You find an open shift in Bakersfield. Nine hours into your drive to get there, your phone rings again. Guess what? You've been bumped again. The process starts over. To top things off, you haven't even worked yet so you are not getting paid for any of this. The example is a worst case scenario but it could happen.
There is also a chance that once your training is over you could be furloughed because there are no open positions available. Accarding to the HR rep, thirty percent of the Union Pacific workforce is retiring in the next five years. That would seem to be good odds for moving up in seniority rather quickly. That doesn't mean that the service area you apply for has openings already. They may be hiring to prepare for future retirements.
The discussion also involved benefits. They spoke of co-pays for medical and prescriptions. Currently mine are infinitesmal compared to the described benefits of UP. The kicker was the vacation accrual. After two years you get a week. Nothing out of the ordinary. Four years, two weeks. Nine years, three weeks. Seventeen years for four weeks. Last but not least, twenty-five years years before you get five weeks. This may sound like a good deal to some. To me it was the straw that broke the camels back. I thought long and hard about taking a pay cut. I figured I could do it. I thought about the co-pays for doctor visits and prescriptions. That would hurt a lot. The vacation schedule put a nail in the coffin of my dream job. With the inconvieniences and disruptions in your life and that of your family, the adjustment I would have to make to accept my dream job offer was more than I could handle.
At least I can say I got hired for my dream job! I'll have to keep my part-time "job" as a foamer for now!
May 06, 2008
Amtrak Capitol Corridor
I took this in Alviso on a calm morning. The lack of a breeze provided a great reflective surface on the water.
April 01, 2008
Mallard
I was eating my lunch (gourmet... in my car) and up walks a group of ducks looking for a handout. I'm thinking, "Hey...get a job!"
March 09, 2008
February 17, 2008
Nearly 150 Years of Stories
The abandoned Laine's Grocery Store in Alviso originally built in 1865 could tell a few tales, I'm sure. Today it sits crumbling and decayed next to the railroad tracks. It's facade nearing the point of no return.
Connections
Through my Flickr page I've been corresponding with folks all over the country (and the world for that matter) who have the same interest in railfanning. I was contacted by an individual who wanted to use one of my pictures for their blog. I was quite honored that they would think highly enough of it to want to display it to their readers. I gave him permission to use it. Come to find out he's a conductor for Amtrak and does the Capitol Corridor run from Sacramento to San Jose. He may very well have been on the the train in the image in my last post. I haven't heard from him confirming that, but we'll see. It seems like a consistantly smaller and smaller world as we barrel headlong into the communications and social networking era. Here's a link to his blog "Bad Iron"
I Think It's "The One"
You would only understand this term if you were an enthusiast. So this is "the one", at least until another, grander one comes along. You can also view it large on my Flickr page
December 20, 2007
The Gimp 2 Photo Editor
I really have fun using the various "filters" that are provided with the program. The Gimp 2 isn't always easy to use and there are processes that are way over my amateur head, but I still have fun with the things I have figured out how to use. You need to see the image above in it's largest size to appreciate the effect.
This is another filter in the Gimp 2. It's called "Emboss". Here's the photo's Flickr page.
November 29, 2007
Union Pacific C45ACCTE number 7777
This is one of my latest favorites. I took this outside the NUMMI plant in Fremont just before dawn.
November 21, 2007
I Chose The Stairs
Not really having the "daring-do" to find out the meaning of the inscription, I took the stairs to the ground floor. To read the graffiti on the elevator doors you need to view the picture in a larger format. Click the links below the picture.
Scotch-Brite Wedgie
The "wedgie" that I refer to is the 1/3 angle shot such as this one. It's definitely the most common composition angle with railfans. I really love this reflector tape photography. I enjoy it so much I've created a Flickr Group called "Railroad Scotch-Brite"
http://flickr.com/groups/railroad_scotchbrite/
http://flickr.com/groups/railroad_scotchbrite/
Laine's Grocery Store, Alviso
I was really quite pleased with the way this one turned out. I was not sure how the sodium vapor streetlight and it's orange glow would affect the image. Turns out it created a nice surreal look. Click on the Flickr link and then above the picture click an the "All Sizes" button. It's best viewed large!.
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