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It is our sincere wish to pay tribute to the work of those many dedicated and skilled railfan-photographers, those living and those departed on the Train to Paradise, railfans who worked countless hours, often subjecting themselves to the perfidies of nature in their passion to record the railroad scene in all its manifestations, for all train lovers to enjoy.
Inclusion in the "Who's Who" is an accolade bestowed upon a color slide photographer whose work is specifically and primarily involved with trains. Those who covered the rail scene in black-and-white have long been honored elsewhere. In the earliest years of color slide photography, the heyday of The Modern Steam Locomotive, most train photographers concentrated their efforts on these wonderful machines. And since steam locomotives were by-and-large black, most photographers of the time shot black-and-white negative film. Those few brave souls who "wasted their time and film" on "The Intruders", as the new Diesels were referred to, were often scorned by their colleagues. Even among these, black-and-white film was still the choice as it was what photographers of the time were used to. It's what they had in their camera. And so, regrettably, the record of the Pioneer Diesels, at least in terms of color images, is not as rich as it might otherwise have been.Slide shooters chosen for the "Who's Who" consistantly produce high quality railroad images with notable aesthetic merit. To be included, a photographer's work must span a good number of years preferably going back to the 1960's or earlier; in other words, flash-in-the-pan, one-lucky-shot dilettantes will have to seek tribute elsewhere. A "Who's Who" photographer will have produced many color images with lasting value to railroad students, historians and railfans, present and future. He will have an intuitive sense of what is most interesting in his choice of location and subject matter, and add to this his unique point of view; his own way of "seeing things."
In effect, the "Who's Who" should become a repository for the very best of railroad color photography, from it's beginnings in the late 1930's right through today. It will be an on-going project which will need the input of many.
A number of contemporary railfan-photographers have produced work which qualifies them for inclusion in this august gathering; those whose work lives up to today's more demanding standards. They must not be penalized because the "Golden Years" of railroading passed before their time; it is not their fault that the most historic and interesting rail subjects are no longer available for shooting. In fact it is because of this sad reality that they must find other ways in which to excel in their pursuit. Some do, and these have earned their stars.
Trainutz.com's Andy Romano will be the sole judge of these factors as determined by our on-going evaluation of thousands of color train images. Inclusion in the "Who's Who" will be based solely on the merit of these images, we pledge to allow neither political nor personal influences to enter into our judgment.
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