My Hometown, Felton Ca.

The other project I'm currently working on is documentation of our 'new' hometown. Only 5 miles from where we currently live, we expect to be staying here for most of the rest of our lives. This will be an ongoing project (and thread)

from the wikipedia on Felton

Named for John Brooks Felton, a former Oakland, California mayor, a judge and a Bay Area investor in his day, the town is a historic logging community which served as the end of the Boulder Creek log flume.

Nearby Mount Hermon was the site of California's first water-powered sawmill (circa 1841).
In 1875, the Santa Cruz & Felton Railroad rolled into town. By 1880, a second rail line came down from Alameda, California and San Jose, California. A new depot was constructed at "New Felton" using salvaged materials from a dismantled portion of the Boulder Creek flume. The railroads, limekilns and forest in this area provided a majority of the repair materials for the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The "broad gauge" came into Felton by 1909.

In 1963, the steam-powered Roaring Camp & Big Trees tourist railroad began operations on the Big Trees Ranch out of the old Felton depot. They later constructed a replicated logging camp and another depot further down the property, and in 1985, took over operations on the old SPC/Southern Pacific line to Santa Cruz. Roaring Camp is a re-creation of an 1880s logging camp and home to the original South Pacific Coast (later Southern Pacific) Felton depot and freight shed, as well as two unique railroads: the Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad (a steam-powered line up Bear Mountain) and the Santa Cruz, Big Trees and Pacific Railway.

All images in this post shot with aptus 75s & zeiss 110/2 (wide open)

Fantastic images, as usual, Jim! I am about to retire for the night right now but I'll come back tomorrow . Thanks so much for sharing these with us.

Cheers,

JimCollum said:

The other project I'm currently working on is documentation of our 'new' hometown. Only 5 miles from where we currently live, we expect to be staying here for most of the rest of our lives. This will be an ongoing project (and thread)

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Hi Jim,

Thanks for sharing these "above average" quality posted images. The only preference I have is to raise the average contrast a bit. They seem a bit flat to me (obviously, on a calibrated display in a dark viewing surroundings). S-curve?

Cheers,
Bart

Jim i like the images a lot...

I dont think they are flat.....I think certain things get accepted as the "norm" or "how things have to be" and anyone who ventures outside that is wrong for doing so yet if the images catch fire and were to do really well and get published etc etc suddenly your a damn genius!!! People always say theres no set rule in photography yet people, most never think outside the box...

There are things like too harsh of light when shooting with a model or poses that dont flatter the girl things like that, basics but beyond that theres creativity thats never explored...

I wondered how many people viewed these and thought hmmmm they are too dark...DIR their suppose to be dark or shadowed.....Your editing here Jim is very good. Creative and outside of the norm....

The last two posts are good starting points for a side discussion and B/W, tone and aesthetics.

How the tonal values and range convey and/or evoke different reaction/emotions/perception of an image.

Image 1:
Here's the original image:

A:


Here's the image with the contrast changed to make it a full toned image with full black and white

B:



*****************************************************

Image 2:

A:

Here's the image with the contrast changed to make it a full toned image with full black and white

B:


How do these images differ in feel to you?

I much prefer the darker, limited range pictures. They convey a very different feeling to me. Mechanical shapes looming out of the darkness for #1 and a much colder, more impersonal feeling for #2.

I like trains as subjects of close up and mechanical abstract photos. They offer lots of unusual shapes, textures, and lines.

JimCollum said:

How do these images differ in feel to you?

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I'm not sure about image 1, but image 2 B is much better to me, although the vignette is a bit too dark for my taste. The car gained a 3D effect.

Cheers,
Bart

besides the difference in the visual.. is there a different emotional feel between the two versions?

Jim

Yes, the darker images are more subdued. I actually prefer them, but then I've also used darker approaches in the past. The car has more 'pop' in the second version, but that isn't required here imho.

I'm away to bed now, but lovely tonality and great images.

Mike

JimCollum said:

besides the difference in the visual.. is there a different emotional feel between the two versions?

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I wasn't meaning this as a rebuke in any way.. i was really just trying to get a discussion going about different light moods, exposure, printing can influence the message the image is making

JimCollum said:

The last two posts are good starting points for a side discussion and B/W, tone and aesthetics.

How the tonal values and range convey and/or evoke different reaction/emotions/perception of an image.

Image 1:
Here's the original image:

A:

​

Here's the image with the contrast changed to make it a full toned image with full black and white

B:

*****************************************************

Image 2:

A:

​

Here's the image with the contrast changed to make it a full toned image with full black and white

B:

​

How do these images differ in feel to you?

Click to expand...

Well, Charles, I am back from my obsession with one panorama for the past 10 days and discovered this fascinating look at tonality and mood.

Charles L Webster said:

I much prefer the darker, limited range pictures. They convey a very different feeling to me. Mechanical shapes looming out of the darkness for #1 and a much colder, more impersonal feeling for #2.

I like trains as subjects of close up and mechanical abstract photos. They offer lots of unusual shapes, textures, and lines.

Click to expand...

Charles,

How about considering that the machine in # 1, in the original already has areas of bright highlights, (relatively, at least perceptually) so that the dark is seen from that height looking downwards to a dark abyss of secrets. So from the outset that machine picture has power and is alive. Opening it up depletes that energy.

In the second picture, the car, however, is hardly more than a closely related package of tones in the first place. When that car is shown in the second instance, it pops!

Jim,

What a fascinating chance to look at the tonalities that prop up our pictures import to us! The first picture of the machine works well as it is. The first picture of the abandoned car is, in itself, really abandoned. One, might even go past it in an exhibit. This pair would be interesting to show at the beginning and end of an exhibit. One's reaction to the second would make one stop, take a measure of oneself and go back to revisit the abandoned card in a new light. It really is so utterly lifeless and forlorn.

Asher

Asher, I don't think I'm looking for "pop" in these images. Just in my own images of instruments, I'm looking for mood and feeling.

Talking about this stuff is like dancing about architecture
Don't know who said it but I can't say it better

I don't have the correct words to express the 'why' of my preference.

Charles L Webster said:

Asher, I don't think I'm looking for "pop" in these images. Just in my own images of instruments, I'm looking for mood and feeling.

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Well Charles,

I think we have similar feelings about Jim's work and what we are looking for. Remember, each of us is bringing our own baggage to the table too.

Asher

There are a couple of websites dedicated just to who made that quote

Charles L Webster said:

Asher, I don't think I'm looking for "pop" in these images. Just in my own images of instruments, I'm looking for mood and feeling.

Talking about this stuff is like dancing about architecture
Don't know who said it but I can't say it better

I don't have the correct words to express the 'why' of my preference.

Click to expand...

3 more from Felton train yards.... all with an 'post-apocalyptic' feel to them

Jim, I love your work.

Rachel Foster said:

Jim, I love your work.

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I feel one shouldn't say that as it's insufficient. However, here' goes, me too!

Asher

You make me laugh, Asher. But there are some folks to whom it applies: Jim, Ken, Cem, Nic, etc.