Olaf Haensch: Gold Award
Olaf Haensch, Hanixbeck, Germany, receives the Center's 2008 Gold Award for Creative Photography. He will receive $500 and his photos will be the featured images at the Center's exhibit at the California State Railroad Museum and in the September 2008 issue of Railfan & Railroad magazine.
Haensch's images give a sense of place to contemporary steam railroading in Germany by capturing the relationship between the railroad and its natural and cultural surroundings. Haensch impressed the judges with both his synchronized night flash photography--unconventional in style and executed flawlessly--and his use of low, moody ambient light. Haensch credits his father's photographic influence, and says of his own work, "I want to use every opportunity to break new ground with the creative use of light." He prefers to work around steam railroads, where "primary elements like water, fire, and steam create many different lighting situations." Yet Haensch also recognizes taht "the locomotive alone is only a piece of steel. Trains, architecture, nature, passengers, and neighbors are intrinsically tied to the railroad and are essential parts of my photographs. These elements together truly show a sense of place."
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