I like both photos but favor the cropping and processing of the first. It looks like a classic railroad poster of the the 1930's. Yes I know Big Boy was the 40's.

One of the towns nearby has Christmas activities Friday nights in December this past Friday was one of them and weather was just perfect.

It was also a chance to use my new Canon R7 with the 18-150 mm lens since my previous Canon has developed problems that will cost as much to fix as the camera is to buy used in like new condition.

All photos are hand held at 1/30 of a second wide open and auto ISO. Colors came out much better than expected, these photos are edited but color adjustments were minimal.

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Santa on the sidewalk with his "helpers" staying hydrated

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waiter through the second floor window, Canon R7 eye focus NAILED it immediately each time

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through a window

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tables on the sidewalk in December

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Some photos of the lift bridge from early this year, this train has left 30th St Station Philadelphia and is on it's way to Atlantic City. Center city Philadelphia skyline bottom right hand side.

This bridge looks like an Erector Set.

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View from Pennsauken station looking towards Pa. Port Richmond neighborhood across the river. Freight line and River Line travel just below this location.

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The day previous to this shoot I found out the bridge was originally designed as a turntable but was changed to lift in the 1920's.

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No NJ Transit has their own track along the right of way.

That's what this made me think of while watching the northern progress of this NS freight that I caught up with in Pennsauken NJ at Cove Rd. very near the Delaware River. The bridge in the distance is the Betsy Ross Bridge from Pennsauken NJ to Philadelphia.
I was nearby taking photos for a different purpose, knew of this location and drove over. As I pulled up saw the loco just 50 feet from the gates but the gates were up. As I was putting the car in park the horn blew the gates went down and it was moving. It was the longest train I've encountered in my life. It moved at about 15 mph for 15 minutes. Two locos in the front and one in the middle of the cars, can only assume most of the cars to be empty with only 3 power units.

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Two lead locos. Two black structures on the right are the Delair Bridge built in 1895-96, it's a lift bridge, the entire center lifts to allow ships to pass. It's still in use today for freight and New Jersey Transit trains from Philly to AC.

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#8000 in the midle.

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New Jersey Transit River Line from Trenton to Camden passed going southbound.

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Final car after about 15 minutes

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Not a pro here but shooting since the question in photography magazines (magazine was something printed on paper) was "is it really photography if the camera has a built in light meter"? Yes that really was a matter of discussion.

While I haven't shot nudes in decades and don't care for model sessions I am a huge fan of Meetup.com. Six years ago I decide to up my game, purchased a modern DSLR and joined a meetup group with a monthly critique run by a former big city newspaper photographer. I now belong to several groups here in the Philadelphia area that hold local photo walks in the city. Covid stopped the critiques don't know if we will ever get back into the studio.

There are several groups in my areas that hold nude photo shoots, I would advise looking on meetup.com and seeing what they have in your area.

This photo is a classic, model's posture is perfect, unable to date the photo by hair style, clothing or background images, could be 1885 or 2023.

Black and white tones are perfect, her hair is very dark along her back, lighter on top of her head. The background is very light without being blown out. Without the flowing fabric it would have been "just" another great photo. This one in my opinion is the best you've posted here.

This should be hanging in a museum...

Jim let me add my voice to those that don't post but greatly appreciate your photo talents, don't stop posting.

The city has for several years held a Christmas Village event at City Hall and Love Park that's across the street. Obviously it's become a very big event, this year I attended at night for the first time with a photo group and was surprised by the crowds and the quality of the photos I was able to take without using my tripod.

All photos were taken with Canon eos 77D using either 10-18 lens or 18-135. Some were severely cropped, sometimes you have to just shoot and workout the results later.

Crowd entering courtyard through west portal. I was holding camera up over my head just shooting crowd photos, blond woman just happened to be the focus point and under a light.

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One second exposure of a Ferris wheel, camera held against light post.

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Very cropped photo. Decided the close up of this couple getting on Ferris wheel was much better than the wide shot I started with.

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Two level carousel in city hall courtyard

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Vendor

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This man played his drum all night, he's in the west portal with the crowds of people.

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west side of city hall (Dilworth Plaza) with light show projected on it. West portal entrance is in center.

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subway entrance

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Looking west on Market St. from 15th. Yea it's a little hard to see.

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https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/train-undergoing-repairs-after-crashing-into-excavator-strasburg-rail-road-junction-station/article_e464a632-5b8e-11ed-bf9e-bf353e3ddc3c.html

Don't know if anyone else is aware of this but a newly restored steam engine crashed into a parked piece of equipment yesterday. Link to YouTube near bottom of article.


The good thing is it didn't damage the steam tubes, the engine was passing passenger cars when the accident happened. Had a steam explosion happened it could have been a major event.

The train was in the process of moving from one end to the other to pull back to terminal. The crew very well could have been distracted because they always wave to the passengers as they go past, I'm sure they're will be changes after this.

The accident happened in Paradise..Paradise Pa if anyone is courious about what paradise looks like.

Not exactly trains but they do run on rails, called subway surface cars here. 40th St is one of two locations that the trolleys go underground, Once they go under they remain underground until the return trip. All cars are Kawasaki Type K LRV cars that I find uninteresting but no one asked my opinion before the purchase.

Philadelphia does have two separate subway lines beside this light rail system.

This portal was opened in 1955 after 30 years of plans, talk and WWII.

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Don't know if the 'GO PHILLIES!!' banner helped but they did beat the Braves several hours later to end the series.

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Finally every several years some dimwit drives into the portal, suspect substance abuse is involved.

Great photos

Ottis Redding song came to mind when I saw the photos

Sittin' in the mornin' sun
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes
Watching the ships roll in
Then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah

I'm sittin' on the dock of the bay
Watchin' the tide roll away, ooh
I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay
Wastin' time

I found camerapapi response/cropping the best IMHO, you need to decide what your subject is before taking a photo and then place in the viewfinder using the rule of thirds.

All of our work is very subjective, I've attended photo criiques where there have been VAST differences of opinions. In the end try suggestions if you don't like them continue what you've been doing.

Far off an interstate highway for certain, nice photos.