Prints that Win: Evening Mist

Evening Mist by Cindy Strupp

One of the great things about photography is the Eureka! moment when all the pieces fall into place for the perfect scene. Modern digital photography allows us to manipulate and create that moment in the processing stage, but when it happens naturally, there’s something special about it.

Such was the case with Evening Mist by Cindy Strupp, owner of Revelation Photography in Carlisle, Pa. Strupp’s capture off the road in between the wedding ceremony and reception won a Sunset Print Award at the Professional Photographers of Pennsylvania competition, and was the competition’s highest-scoring print.

“It’s one of those images that get traction because you look at it and fall in love with it,” says Robert A. Howard, the event chairman and a former Sunset Print Award winner himself. “The jury chairman challenged the initial score and asked everyone to get up and take a closer look at it to see how pin-sharp it really was.”

The final print is pretty much the scene as captured by Strupp with just a bit of touch-up work to remove some annoying power lines, the bane of photographers far and wide, and to add a bit of texture with an OnOne Software plug-in.

“It was a typical wedding where you have half an hour at most to do outside pictures on the way to the reception. We were driving from the church to the reception, it started pouring rain, and I thought, ‘Oh great,’ but it stopped by the time we got to the outdoor location. I took one look at the creek with the fog rolling off of it and it was perfect,” recalls Strupp. “The fog stuck around for maybe five or ten minutes, but when I got to the rest of the wedding party it was gone. Those moments are so fleeting; when you get them, you get them.”

Prints that Win: It Was the Best of Times

Photographing and Printing Vintage Railroads

It’s a tried and true saying – do what you love and do it well – and Robert A. Howard, owner of Howard Studios in Lebanon, Pa., embodies it. He photographs it all – from portraiture to commercial advertising photography – and then some.

The “then some” is his lifelong hobby: railroads and capturing both modern and vintage railroads in striking ways. He’s part of a cadre of “rail fans,” aficionados of all things railroad past and present. About three years ago Howard created Rail Art, which takes the best of his collection and makes it available for sale to the general public.

“I was born and raised around a number of family members who worked for the railroad here in Lebanon: the Reading and Pennsylvania railroads. I somehow found time throughout my life to chase trains. Rail fans take a lot of photos of trains to share them with clubs, and now blogs and social media. It’s about finding rare rolling stock still on the rails and capturing it in various places,” explains Howard. “Presently, we have a catalog in print of just shy of 100 images for sale. Each is a carefully chosen railroad image that depicts both contemporary and vintage railroads.”

In the case of this LexJet Sunset Award-winning print entitled It Was the Best of Times, Howard and a group of photographers, videographers and painters gathered after Howard and Carl Franz of Western Maryland Railroad (WMRR) set up this shot of an old steam-driven Western Maryland locomotive hauling freight. Franz rented the railroad for the day, coordinated the volunteers who cleared some brush out of the foreground, and helped set up the shot.

“We choose areas that resemble the way they would look in that particular era. In this case, the locomotive is from the 1940s and 1950s. It was easy to set up in this case because we found a third-generation farmer who owns the land. We went out on an early morning just after a morning rain and it was captured with most of us underneath umbrellas,” says Howard. “The farmer’s barn burned down a number of years ago, so the rail fans got together with the local Amish and built him a new barn. This location is very historic. The Western Maryland Railroad was one of the oldest working railroads in the country that still used steam locomotives to carry freight. In addition to the tourist trade, it still hauls freight for the local community.”

Howard then brought the image into Photoshop, applying Topaz and Nik filters to get the sepia/watercolor look of a vintage 1940s postcard. The image was printed on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag by Jonathan Penney for its entry in the PPA of Pennsylvania and PPA Northeast regional competitions.

The image merited at the PPA Northeast regional and won a LexJet Sunset Award at the PPA of Pennsylvania for highest quality print and presentation.

“I’ve been trying to win the Sunset Award for awhile and was very honored to do so this year. It takes an incredibly high score at a state competition to win the award,” says Howard. “The Sunset Award is proudly sitting in our front window and will be featured in our local newspaper in a couple of days.”