Bad Idea


I have an idea! Lets put a baby on a wooden chair in the middle of some railway tracks! As long as the baby is a asleep it probably won’t fall plus we’ll totally notice a train in time to move out of the way…

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44 Comments

  1. I never understood why posing anyone on train tracks is a great photo.. maybe i’m the only one that thinks it’s morbid? but this is beyond wrong.

    • Ashaloo

      The only reason I’ve ever seen is that it’s the easiest way for an amateur photog to make good use of leading lines… But even that is no excuse for THIS!!

    • Mostly photogs want to depict a runaway or li’l hobo when they use railway tracks, when they show people sitting on tracks or walking along them barefoot. Often escapism is the key theme.

      But this shot is stoopid, pointless, typical fauxtog BS athough in this case they didn’t so much use PhotoShop as PhotoChop. The baby can’t get up and run away, though in later years I’ll bet it could, and may yet will, just to escape the kind of parents who would allow this! That wooden chair looks very uncomfortable. Seems to guarantee Kiddo will start squirming and fall off as a result.

      ETA: LOL….dpchallenge has just announced a Railway Tracks challenge, using railway tracks as the main subject or in a more supporting role…too funny.

      • Gal with a Camera

        Stoopid…? HA HA HA HA HA!

        Sorry I couldn’t help myself.

  2. Stephanie

    Thats not even cute. lol

  3. Quick! Somebody call Dudley Doright! 😉

    • Or child protective services! It does look like the baby was photoshopped on a chair then that mess was photoshopped onto the railroad tracks.

      • Does indeed look like the chair and the track aren’t in the same plane…

  4. Heather

    This must be an example of backwoods Redneck Fauxtography. Oy vay!

  5. this doesn’t even make sense wtf?

    • maybe not to you. but i’m pretty sure, there are a couple people who think this is the greatest idea EVAR! i could probably already list 2 people…

  6. What is this story fauxtographer trying to tell?

  7. aswicks

    Maybe a cover photo for the new release of The Boxcar Children?

  8. Who’s more the idiot- the photographer that TOOK the photo, or the person who let them put their kid on a chair on a railroad track (or is it photoshopped- and if so WHY?) ?

  9. if you’re gonna stick a kid on a chair in the middle of hoosierville on train tracks… at least put a blanket down so he’s comfortable. jesus h.

  10. Holy Fracking Jeez! And those are regularly used tracks! There is no rust on them! What an idiot!

  11. there are a lot of unused tracks so no danger, and that part doesn’t bother me, but seriously does someone think tracks and a baby on a chair is a great combo? they just don’t go together and even if they did that processing is so bad.. yuck and yeah no blanket or anything.. this just screams I’m abandoned and need someone to care for me like an adult with a brain!

  12. This is photoshopped – the perspective on the chair and tracks is different ( the tracks are apparently going up into the sky behind the chair )

    • I was kind of getting the same feeling myself, what with the shadows looking all wrong. …unless the ‘tog brought along a battery of spotlights…which I truly doubt.

      For some reason this looks like one of those pictures they might’ve turned down for use in psychological evaluations. I could see this picture being shown to the replicants in Blade Runner, followed by half an hour of NC-17 rated violence.

  13. We can only hope this is digital background from an image shoot on green screen, but somehow i highly doubt it. Poor kid.

  14. Well! Obviously, the baby survived or you will probably see in on HuffPost weird news of the day. Way to go, fauxtog.

  15. I have a photograph of my kids on train tracks. BUT we were visiting a train museum and the tracks were abandoned.

  16. Elizabeth

    Double yoo, tee, eff?

  17. It just makes no sense to me.

  18. Miralys

    don’t think there’s any danger whatsoever. Probably the tracks are not used anymore and at that age babys hardly move and can’t turn, so I doubt there’s a chance of it falling. The picture is still awfull and senseless.

    • TollToll

      THERE IS DANGER. Plus it is ILLEGAL TO POSE ON TRACKS.
      They are owned by a union, therefore it is TRESPASSING and some tracks are still used, even if they have rust on them and aren’t used every day. There is a track in downtown that is NEVER used and photogs are using it all the time, but little to their actual knowledge they’re BACK UP tracks, used in case the original fails. I’m pretty sure if you follow the tracks, it connects to LIVE tracks, that’s your clue. If it doesn’t connect, it’s not used.

      PLUS YES IT IS a danger at ANY age to leave a baby without holding. Newborns are actually VERY squirmy. Just moving their arms can squirm their whole body enough to fall off a chair. My son was a week old and managed to squirm himself off his blanket, so I’m pretty sure the EDGE OF A CHAIR is NOT safe! Especially on their back, that baby can kick it’s legs a few times and end up on the ground.

      • That chair was shopped onto the tracks. I’m not really arguing that there’s zero danger, except that the baby is clearly at the back of the chair, not the edge. And because it was shopped, there was likely a parent standing nearby just in case the baby did start kicking. More likely, the danger is mitigated.

        And you certainly do not know better about the safety of someone else’s kid, than the kid’s parent who’s getting “pro” shots of their kid. You’re doing a bit of a “think of the children” knee jerk reaction here, which might not mesh with reality.

        That doesn’t mean this picture isn’t horrible or they aren’t potentially trespassing, but I object to you thinking you know better than the parent. Seems that’s a theme with all images of kids… someone always knows better.

      • TollToll

        I highly doubt that this was photoshopped, it looks like it was PICNIKED at that, when picnik was big.

        Toddlers can fall from chairs, I wouldn’t let my 1yr old sit in a chair without my hand having to be photoshopped out.

        “You certainly do not know better about the safety of someone else’s kid” so that would be a great reason to have insurance and to follow through with child safety when posing so you’re not going to get sued or slapped for your fault as a photographer for being an idiot posing a baby on a chair raised above hard ground.

        Even if the parent is positive the baby won’t fall, you HAVE to take that extra step and be safe. In other words, even if you’re a pro rock-climber, the people who own rock climbing demonstrations at Six Flags will make you strap up and wear a helmet… you should already know why I just said that, but in case you don’t… LIABILITY. If they fall, and you allowed them to climb on your time, then it’s your fault and you were dumb for doing it.

        “I object to you thinking you know better than the parent.” Okay, but as a professional photographer, you have a responsibility when it comes to photographing children. Yeah, think of the children, definitely. It is REALITY that you need to be careful with children. They aren’t dolls.

  19. this image makes no sense…even alone, the baby on that chair in a studio makes no sense. There was absolutely no context before and there isn’t one now. Ä°t’s like some secret code…what is the fauxtog trying to say with this image? thankfully neither image is interesting enough to spend more time on this train wreck!

  20. oh and the baby looks a bit dead… I’m not a fan of any of these baby poses but at least give the baby some color or put it in a natural sleep position.

    never mind…it’s still not interesting enough to care :p

  21. Danielle

    I don’t understand how everyone can be on here dogging them and claim to be better, but can’t spot an obvious photoshop. Fauxtog must be somewhat good, because they got most of you. Bad photo, but obviously pretty good with their photoshop skills. Got all you “photographers” fooled.

    • Just Me

      Indeed. Miraculously, the tree shadow that crosses the rails falls not on the baby or chair.

  22. camera.shy

    I want to know if all of these tracks are disused or are the fauxtogs putting people onto busy railway lines?? No wonder they never have insurance!

  23. Traintrack printed backdrop? Certainly not real. Certainly not the best choice either lol

  24. TollToll

    Sadly this looks like a work of picnik.com when it was big back in those days. The chopped off top and bottom are clear signs and the yellow grainy skin tones. It’s not looking photoshop to me.

    • ThatGuy

      The “chopped off top and bottom” are clear signs of it being viewed in Facebook’s lightbox, which the comment thread on the right clearly tells you.

      • TollToll

        Okay fine, this person is awesome a photoshop. BETTER?

  25. TollToll

    It is illegal and dangerous to use ANY railroad tracks.

    http://www.uprr.com/she/photo-video.shtml

    It is NOT public property.

  26. The kid looks like a doll someone laid down on a chair. The background has no relation to it, and as pointed out before, the two perspectives clash. It’s just all over a head-scratching photo. I guess good job with the Photoshopping, bad on everything else.

  27. Cranky Catholic

    I like this site. It just needs better writers.

    • TollToll

      & more posting. I submit things all the time and they never get posted. Only one a day? We need to put more people on blast!

  28. This is the 2nd RR track baby photo I’ve seen in the past week.

    HS Seniors – I get the symbolism – tracks going off represent the life ahead of them… Plus HS Seniors usually are bright enough to be able to get out the way when a train is coming.

    Babies on tracks is just a dumb idea – not good, no symbolism… just dumb…

  29. train tracks and a couple – I like that kind of symbolism. Train tracks and a sleeping baby? kinda morbid..

  30. I’m not sure this counts for the Dastardly Achievement…

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