Photographer working on Trainspotting project

[Harry E]

My name is Harry and I am a Photographer.

I am interested in creating a documentary style project focusing on Trainspotting as well as the people who have made it their passion as its long been something that has intrigued me.

The project would be submitted to the British Journal of Photography.

In order for me to make this a reality I am looking to start speaking with avid Trainspotters in and around London.

My local stations are Victoria and Peckham Rye but would like to travel around to the outskirts of London.

Please let me know if anyone can help.

Thanks
Harry

 

[shredder1]

I think the very word trainspotters may put quite a few off, sadly its been much stigmatised over the years by the media, rail enthusiast may be more helpful, but from watching 60 plus years of these types of documentaries, I`ve yet to see our hobby shine.

 

[Harry E]

Hello Shredder1,

Thanks for the advice. This is exactly what I am trying to do, change peoples opinions of this hobby, I would like to capture the sense of community, friendship and camaraderie that Im sure must be strong among groups of enthusiasts.

Do you have any friends in London who you could put me in touch with, or any stations that are particularly popular with enthusiasts's?

Thanks
Harry

 

[LCC106]

In the absence of any responses you could speak to the staff at your local stations, ask if they have any spotters and if it would be ok to access the platforms to speak to them.

 

[Esker-pades]

I've sent a PM to you on the subject. I hope it makes sense.

 

[Robertj21a]

My name is Harry and I am a Photographer.

I am interested in creating a documentary style project focusing on Trainspotting as well as the people who have made it their passion as its long been something that has intrigued me.

The project would be submitted to the British Journal of Photography.

In order for me to make this a reality I am looking to start speaking with avid Trainspotters in and around London.

My local stations are Victoria and Peckham Rye but would like to travel around to the outskirts of London.

Please let me know if anyone can help.

Thanks
Harry

Good luck with that ! - unfortunately, most train spotters will probably be too concerned by how they are portrayed.

.

 

[LCC106]

Has Harry made enough posts to receive a PM? I found the spotters at my core station we’re happy to help me learning it ha ha!

 

[Esker-pades]

Has Harry made enough posts to receive a PM? I found the spotters at my core station we’re happy to help me learning it ha ha!

Good point. There may be a 5 post minimum for that.

 

[433N]

This is exactly what I am trying to do, change peoples opinions of this hobby, I would like to capture the sense of community, friendship and camaraderie that Im sure must be strong among groups of enthusiasts.

Do you have any friends in London who you could put me in touch with, or any stations that are particularly popular with enthusiasts's?

In order to change peoples' opinions of a hobby, it is likely that they would need to understand why the interest in trains. The more you look into trains (their history, engineering, their place on the railway), the more your interest will develop (and maybe, like me, you'll start to see railways as a microcosm of Britain). The more you put in and get interested and learn, the more you appreciate it. And that is the same for all hobbies isn't it. I've never been much interested in stamp collecting but, if I looked into it I probably would see the attraction. But people sneer at trainspotting because they don't understand it and have no interest in putting in the effort to try to understand it. They prefer to sit and watch X-factor which, for some unknown reason, doesn't carry the same social stigma. The social stigma is perplexing to me (not that I particularly care and the social sigma actually fascinates me because it is both illogical and irrational) since it is quite acceptable for people to gather and 'scrunge' at cars and talk about horsepower, engines etc and say 'oooh, she's a beauty' ... but not at trains which are just megasize cars really.

I would think your best approach would be to just go along to stations and try talking to 'spotters', engage them and then explain what you are doing. Many are friendly people who just want to not spend their lives watching telly, see places and have little distractions from the daily grind. (although just as in all walks of life, some are grumpy gits who take themselves far too seriously or may just be having a bad day). Your locality is perfect really and you wouldn't have to spend too much time at places like Denmark Hill, Wandsworth Rd, Clapham High St before meeting some ... and there are always 'spotters' at Clapham Junction.