Ernest H. Robl: Railroad photography for railroad engineering and consulting firms

Introduction

Photography is an important—sometimes misunderstood—communications tool. This sheet shows engineering and consulting firms working in the railroad and general transportation sector how to more effectively communicate with photography.

As presented in more detail in other enclosed information, I am a photographer (and writer) specializing in transportation subjects and best known for my extensive coverage of railroads. I offer both an extensive stock photo collection focusing on railroads and assignment photography services.

Stock photography

In case you are not familiar with the concept of stock photography, I'll provide a brief overview: Stock photography is the opposite of assignment photography.

Instead of commissioning work on assignment, a client licenses the use of an existing image from a stock photo library. Why would a client want to use stock photos rather than those created on assignment? Consider the following:

• Assignment photography is time-intensive. You need to book an assignment at a time that the photographer is available and at a time that he or she can travel to the specified location. For reasons noted below, the photographer may need to spend considerable time to produce a small number of images.
• Assignment photography is unpredictable. While a skilled photographer will do his best to produce images that meet your needs, many factors at the photography location may be beyond his control. Weather is the most obvious example, but many other factors may impact the photography.
• With stock photographs, you are dealing with a known quantity, where, once you have identified an image that meets your needs, that image is instantly available.

• With assignment photography, the commissioning client is responsible for expenses related to the photo shoot. These expenses can be estimated in advance but never predicted totally accurately. With stock photos, you only have the basic licensing fee.

While I am more than happy to explain fee structures, this is not the best place to discuss this subject, other than to point out that, as is the case with most professional photographers, my fee structure is based on the intended use of my images. An image to be used in an internal PowerPoint® presentation will command a lower fee than an image to be used in an advertisement in a nationally distributed magazine.

This allows you to purchase only the rights that you need and to pay only for those rights. But, on to applications of photography.

Photography applications

Photography (in conjunction with text) is one of the best methods of documenting projects and communicating ideas and concepts.

But, as in any communication, you need a clear concept of what you are want to communicate and your intended audience. Are you communicating with an internal or external audience? What is your audience's lever of knowledge and experience? What is your audience's level of interest?

Applications which can be enlivened and strengthened by the appropriate use of images include:

• Advertising of your products and services in publications
• Enlivening your internal and external corporate Web sites
• Presentations to existing and potential clients
• Presentations to the general public on planned engineering or construction projects or options within those plans
• Educational and orientation presentations for new and existing staff
• Training or user documentation for your customers
• Documentation of projects in progress or completed (requiring assignment photography) which will be available for a range of future uses.

Generic photographs

While my stock photo collection includes many photos of specific railroads (ranging from light rail and heavy rail transit systems to transcontinental freight haulers) and locations—and these may be appropriate for some applications—other applications may call for more generic images. By generic, I mean photographs that, while illustrating a specific idea or piece of equipment, are not identifiable with any given railroad or location.

Such photos are important not only for advertising where you may not want to show images linked to a specific railroad, but also in many types of presentations, where railroad- or location-specific elements may be a distraction.

Consider the two images included on this sheet. The image on the front not only is not railroad-specific, but it also offers areas where text can be superimposed. Among generic photos available are depictions of track and its components, various types of railroad work and activity, and a range of railroad equipment.

Why Ernest H. Robl?

I've been photographing (and writing about) railroad subjects for many years. I understand railroad operations. I understand technical terminology to communicate with you and (for location photography) to communicate with railroaders at the scene. I understand safety concerns. (I've written about railroad safety for Railway Age.)

When dealing with me, you don't have to explain such terms as ballast regulator, compromise joint, or CTC signaling. Nor do you need to explain functions of parts of track and its substructure.

Solutions

More than trying to sell you the use of my photography, I want to help you solve communications problems. The more you tell me about what you want to communicate, the better I can help you in this area.

And, while I have extensive coverage of railroad subjects from the United States and Europe, if I do not have images that meet your needs, I will tell you that. In those situations, I may be able to suggest other possible sources for such images.

I have a strong personal interest in transportation and helping to communicate transportation issues to the general public.

Previous clients

Clients for my railroad stock photos have included major railroads, magazines (both trade and railroad enthusiast), calendar publishers, textbook publishers and encyclopedias.

The High Speed Ground Transportation Division of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center of the U.S. DOT has licensed a number of my photos for use in internal presentations.

I've done photography for model railroad magazines, giving me experience photographing scale models—a good way to illustrate concepts.

Please stop by my extensive Web site— http://www.robl.w1.com —for a range of sample images and then contact me to discuss how I can be of help.

[Rev. 2000/10]

[Send e-mail] [Ernest H. Robl Home page]

If you accessed this page directly and do not see the table of contents of the Business section of my site at left, please click below:

[Business]

The Business pages contain overviews of my subject and geographic specialties as well as ones providing additional information on my business policies.