Mike Valentine and David Plowden check Plowden's presentation for the "Conversations about Photography" conference. For information, the pre-conference announcement is below. Photo by Henry A. Koshollek, M.A.

Conversations about Photography 2008

To mark its sixth "Conversations about Photography" conference Saturday, April 12, the Center has scheduled an impressive list of presentations and a discussion about preserving photographic collections. The conference, co-sponsored by the Lake Forest College's archives and special collection department, begins at 8:45 a.m. Canon is providing support. A reception at 4:30 p.m., sponsored by Trains and Classic Trains magazines, follows. The Center expects to maintain an informal, informative atmosphere, with opportunities for audience participation as the photographers show and discuss their work. Speakers are:

David Plowden, photo by Henry A. Koshollek, M.A.

David Plowden, celebrating 50 years of photography with his most recent book, David Plowden: Vanishing Point. "What he has done is nothing less than capture a nation passing through fifty years of changes as monumentous as those unleased by the industrial revolution a century earlier," Richard Snow writes in the foreword. Plowden is author of more than 20 photography books including A Time of Trains (1987). His photographs are held in major collections throughout the country. Conference attendees may buy Vanishing Point at a 25 percent discount; he will sign copies at the reception at Glenn Rowen House. Railroad-heritage.org has his view of Canadian Pacific 2816.

Victor Hand and Don Phillips in China in January 1994

Victor Hand and Don Phillips, 50 Years of Photographing Around the World. Phillips went to work for United Press International in Atlanta in 1965 and transferred in 1970 to UPI in Washington, D.C. In 1985, he joined the Washington Post and in 1989 became the Post's transportation reporter, covering mainly aviation safety but also railroads. In 2004, Phillips joined the International Herald Tribune in Paris for two years, covering transportation. He now has reached retirement age, meaning he can freelance to his heart's content. He has been a columnist for Trains for almost four decades, and wrote "The Steam World of Victor Hand" for the January 2006 issue. Hand completed Penn Central's management training program in 1968-69, and worked for Penn Central, Central of New Jersey, and Amtrak in management; for U.S. Railroad Association, planning for Conrail; and in the consulting business, where he specialized in mergers, reorganizations, and operations planning for railroads in the U.S. and 20 overseas countries. He has been semi-retired since 2001. He has photographed in 56 countries. Hand and Harold Edmonson are authors of The Love of Trains: Steam and Diesel Locomotives in Action Around the World (1974).

Scott Lothes, photo by Ronald Olsen

Scott Lothes, Lessons from Great Writers for Railroad Photographers. Lothes recently spent two years in Asia. He won the 2003 Trains magazine photography contest and was the co-winner of the Center's 2006 Creative Photography Award. He has studied railroads in literature for several years, and hopes to continue those studies in graduate school this fall. "What do writers Emily Dickinson, Henry David Thoreau, and F. Scott Fitzgerald have in common? They've all written about the railroad. Railroads have received a surprising amount of literary attention. As railroad photographers, there is much we can learn from the observations of writers," Lothes says.

Don Horn, Pullman Photographers and Their Railroad Counterparts. Horn spoke in 2003 and is returning in 2008. He has worked in the transportation industry for more than 40 years at Pullman at its passenger and freight facilities and its Trailmobile truck trailer division; the Illinois Central Gulf; the Illinois Central; and the Canadian National. His father, Melvin Horn, was one of the last Pullman Standard photographers.

Tony Reevy, photo by UNC-CH

Tony Reevy, Walker Evans and the American Railroad. Reevy, senior associate director of the Institute for the Environment, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, was co-winner of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society article award in 2006. His books are Ghost Train! American Railroad Ghost Legends, A Directory of North Carolina's Railroad Structures (with Art Peterson and Sonny Dowdy), Green Cove Stop, Magdalena, and the newly released Lightning in Wartime (Finishing Line Press).

The panel, moderated by Jeff Brouws, will discuss advantages, pitfalls, and procedures for photographers to follow to enhance the longevity and quality of their collections, and will suggest that photographers prepare wills so that their photographic estates find the right home. Panelists also will make recommendations about how to accomplish these goals. Brouws is a fine-art photographer whose work can be found in museum collections across the United States. He is the co-author of numerous publications about railroading including A Passion for Trains: The Railroad Photography of Richard Steinheimer, Starlight On The Rails, Railroading West, and the monograph of Jim Shaughnessy's work The Call of Trains due from W. W. Norton in November 2008. In addition to Brouws, participants are Robert Mohowski, the O&W and L&HR collections in Middletown, New York; John Gruber, the Phil Hastings Collection; and Kevin Keefe, the archive of photographs housed at Kalmbach Publications in Waukesha.

The program includes a welcome from Arthur Miller, Lake Forest College; comments by Kevin Keefe, Vice President-Editorial, Kalmbach Publishing Co.; and a progress report on the Center's Internet archive, railroadheitage.org, by John Gruber. David Mattoon, a volunteer at Lake Forest College, will show stereoviews in 3D (glasses provided) of the transcontinental railroad in the Utah area in the 1860s and 1870s.

The conference is at Johnson Science Center on the middle campus of Lake Forest College, one block south of Deerpath Road in Lake Forest, 32 miles north of Chicago, on Metra's Union Pacific (former C&NW) North commuter line. The advance registration of $65 ($75 for nonmembers) includes lunch, breaks, parking, and reception. Memberships are available at the door. Information is available from the Center, P.O. Box 259330, Madison WI 53725-9330, or you can print out the registration form.

A block of rooms for attendees at the conference has been set up at Homestead Studio Suites Hotel, 675 Woodlands Parkway, Vernon Hills IL 60061, phone 847-955-1111. People reserving rooms need to mention "railroad photography conference" to get the special rate. The hotel is nine miles from Lake Forest College; there is no public transportation.

Our photograher, Henry A. Koshollek, provides a comprehensive look at the 2007 day's activities.

Past Conferences

2007 conference information.

2006 conference information.

2005 conference information.

2004 conference information.