2002-2005 Awards Programs

Jennifer Ryan's "Shadows" and "Metropolian" received the first award in the 2005 contest.

Ryan Wins 2005 Awards Program

Winners of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art's third creative photography awards are Jennifer Ryan, Freiburg, Germany, first place; Elrond Lawrence, Salinas, California, second place; and Bill Agee, Capistrano Beach, California, Steve Crise, Los Angeles, California, and Scott Lothes, Lakewood, Ohio, third place. Awards were announced at a reception following the Center's third annual conference March 19, 2005, at Lake Forest College in Illinois. The conference had a record attendance, with about 120 people participating.

The jurors, a distinguished group of experts on railroads and photography, spent almost a day picking the winners from 42 entries. It was extremely difficult to make the final decisions. "We feel that there weren't any losers, or that one was better than the other, rather there were several First Place winners in our minds. The final entrants took hours to decide, after much deliberation. The entrants can be extremely proud of the work that they did," the jurors continued. "There was an amazing array of different styles and work. Some were absolute masterpieces of creativity and technical craftsmanship. Many great photos from unknown photographers."

The Center makes the awards to promote innovative ways of showing railroads in urban and rural contexts. The 2005 award was for photographs made with a film or digital camera after December 31, 2001. Photographers are judged on their ability to demonstrate creative, technical, and interpretative excellence in new and unusual ways. The deadline for the 2006 award is February 6, 2006; a theme will be announced.

Ryan's pictures were taken with a Horizon 202 (a swing lens Panorama camera) using Ilford Delta 100 professional film. She and her husband, Stephan Schmitz, live in Freiburg, Germany, with their 20-month-old daughter, Hannah Mathilda. Ryan grew up in Chicago; her family lives in Lake Bluff, Illinois. "My interest in photography comes from my father who always had a camera in hand as I was growing up and it was he who gave me my first camera on a trip to Montana when I was 15. My interest continues and today my husband and I both enjoy photographing together--we have a darkroom and small studio set-up. You can see some of our other work under www.mod3foto.com," Ryan said. "My husband and I used to live in K?n (Cologne), Germany, and the main train station was one of our favorite locations for photographing. We spent many weekends running from track to track setting up the camera to get the 'right shot' in the short time that the trains were stopped there. The first pictures made at the train station were random and after a few times we had it down to an art--looking at train schedules to get the right train on the right track ... easier said than done since the German rail system is infamous for delays!"

Lawrence (www.elrondlawrence.com), the second place winner, is based in California's Monterey County. He specializes in images of the Golden State and the American Southwest, with an emphasis on railroads, transportation, landscapes, and roadside America.

Bill Agee (redsilver.com), third place winner, is a fine arts and advertising photographer. For the second year, he is working mostly in digital color. "I don't stop with just taking the photo, however, but spend a lot of my post-shooting time on the computer manipulating the images usually in a very surreal way," he says.

Steve Crise (www.scrise.com), third place winner, began working in photography professionally in 1979 and started his own studio in 1986. He produces stock photography for Corbis with an emphasis on rail transportation.

Scott Lothes (www.scottlothes.com), third place winner, graduated with a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 2002 and for three yeears served as the assistant editor of Sound and Vibration, an engineering magazine dealing with noise and vibration control. He is on his first trip off the continent, traveling from late September through mid-December in China before joining his fiance in Japan.

The 2005 judges picked Lawrence's photos for their graphic quality, calling them simple images with strong visual impact. The crossing arm and crossbuck sign almost look like a poster.

Third place, Steve Crise

Third place, Scott Lothes

Third place, Bill Agee

Cashin Wins 2004 Photography Award

March 20, 2004

Patrick J. Cashin, a photographer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City, received first place and a $500 cash prize in the Center's second creative photography award.

New MTA NYC transit station at 72nd and Broadway, by Patrick J. Cashin.

Winners were announced Saturday at the conclusion of the "Conversations about Photography " conference at Lake Forest College. Sixty-two photographers entered. Awards were given for a body of work, rather than a single photograph, from the last three years. The photo judging process was made even more difficult this year by the large number of strong entries received. Many, many images deserved recognition for originality and visual impact. "There were no losers, and we unfortunately were limited to recognizing a mere five winners," said one of the judges.

Second place and $300 went to Brian Plant, Hummelstown, Pennsylvania. As third place winners, Bob Ratta, Madison, Wisconsin, and William Botkin, Centennial, Colorado, each will receive $100.

Thirteen received honorable mention: Hinrich Bruemmer, Berlin, Germany; Steve Crise, Los Angeles, California; Charles Dischinger, Springfield, Missouri; Chris Goepel, Novato, California; Matt Heeren, German Valley, Illinois; Sayre Kos, Mundelein, Illinois; George Kollar, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Elrond Lawrence, Salinas, California; David McLeod, Burlington, Vermont; Gordon Osmundson, Oakland, California; John Powers, Elyria, Ohio; Dean Sauvola, New Richmond, Wisconsin; and Arthur Skarin, Needham, Massachusetts.

Cashin says:

"My interest in photography began while I was in the U.S. Navy serving in the Far East. Photographing the faces of the Vietnamese people during Operation Frequent Wind (the evacuation of Vietnam) convinced me that my future was going to be behind a camera. Following active duty, I joined Newsweek magazine where I worked for 16 years in their photo lab, as well as photographing for their advertising special sections area. While still working for the magazine, I continued to travel and photograph worldwide on photo assignments first for the Naval Reserve and now for the Air National Guard.

"Currently, I am the photographer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the State of New York. The MTA oversees the New York City Transit Authority, Long Island Rail Road, Long Island Bus, Metro-North Railroad and Bridges and Tunnels. I produced the images for their annual reports, brochures, and corporate events. I have also documented the artists--and their artwork--for the MTA's Arts For Transit program. Samples of my work can be seen on my website: www.pcpics.com"

Rosenthal Receives 2003 Photo Award

Michael Rosenthal photographed a GP40FH-2 locomotive traveling west in the north tube of the Bergen Tunnel out of Hoboken Terminal. The photo was taken in March 2001 with a flash inside the tunnel with full ROW protection before rehabilitation of the Tunnel's north tube. It was shot digitally at 1/60, f/4.0 100 ASA.

The Center for Railroad Photography and Art presented its $1,000 national photography award for 2002 to Michael Rosenthal of Rutherford, New Jersey. This award, the first given by the center, is for photos taken in 2000-02. The awards panel picked the top photos from 32 entries.

Honorable mentions went to Howard Ande, Bartlett, Illinois; Steve Crise, Los Angeles, California; and Gordon Osmundson, Oakland, California.

Rosenthal's entry shows a sharply defined style, and demonstrated creative, technical, and interpretative excellence in railroad photography. Rather than settling for derivative work, Rosenthal's photographs show he's looking for a new way to make a very old subject come alive. We particularly like his willingness to explore railroads in a dense urban setting, using existing lighting and electronic flash to capture the brilliant colors, sharp contrast, and geometric forms of modernity.

Rosenthal, 36, a native of New Jersey, joined NJ TRANSIT as a photographer in 2000. His father and uncle were amateur photographers, nurturing an early interest in photography. "My father bought me my first camera, a Kodak 120 cartridge camera, to take on our family trip to Florida. I considered photography as only a hobby as I pursued my degree in Architecture (1990) from North Carolina State University's School of Design (now the College of Design) and the Parsons School of Design in Paris, France," Rosenthal said. "Upon returning to the U.S., I found my fascination with the camera was becoming a vocation. I began my career assisting several professional Manhattan photographers, and continued to gain experience and developing portfolios before joining NJ TRANSIT."