Conversations about Photography 2007

Jim Shaughnessy shows his well known photograph of the last Boston & Maine steam excursion at the 2007 conference. Photograph by Henry A. Koshollek.

For reference, here is the pre-conference story.

To mark its fifth “Conversations about Photography” conference Saturday, March 24, the Center has scheduled an impressive list of presentations and a discussion about how the Internet has changed railroad photography. Canon has joined the list of sponsors.

The conference, co-sponsored by the Lake Forest College’s archives and special collection department, begins at 8:45 a.m. A reception at 4:30 p.m., sponsored byTrains magazine, follows the last speaker. The Center expects to maintain the informal yet informative atmosphere of its other conferences, with opportunities for audience participation as the photographers show and discuss their work.

The program included:

• Simpson Kalisher, New York author-photograher for Railroad Men,photographs and collected stories, folklore in the tradition of Americana (1961). The American Institute of Graphic Artists selected the book as one of the 50 best books of the year. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, George Eastman House, Jewish Museum (New York), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), Corcoran Gallery, Everson Museum of Art, and Milwaukee Art Museum. Photos from Railroad Men are on his web site.
• Walter E. Zullig Jr. is a New York attorney and vice president of the National Railway Historical Society’s Metropolitan Region. His column about the rights of railfan photographers appeared in Trains (October 2006). He was one of the incorporators of and legal counsel for Metro-North Railroad for more than 20 years. He retired from that position in November 2002 and now is doing transportaton legal work as well as staying active in the NRHS and Transportation Research Board. His article, “Metro-North: A 12-Year Success Story,” appeared in Passenger Train Journal in April 1995.
• Misko Kranjec, Ljubljana, Slovenia, co-winner in the Center’s 2006 awards program. A former mechanical engineer, Kranjec is a part-time freelancing photojournalist and part-time photographer at an advertising and design studio. After eight years in computer graphics and computer animation, he returned to photograhy in the late 1990s, with railroads as a primary focus. The railroad worker attracts him the most as a subject of his photography. He is a runnerup in the 2006 Trains/Canon photo contest, announced in the April 2007Trains, page. 47.
• Jim Shaughnessy. The self-taught photographer from Troy, New York, moved from his first published efforts in the 1950s to recognition by the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society in 1987. He remains active in railroad photography, but retired in 1995 from his profession, civil engineering.
• John Roskoski, Lompoc, Calif. “Surf and the Southern Pacific” provides an indepth look at railroading in California’s Lompoc Valley and an intimate look at the last days of the working train order station next to the ocean, closed in 1985. It studies the Lompoc and White Hills Branch. Roskoski, who grew up in Clifton, New Jersey, now lives only 9 miles from Surf.
• Steve Barry. As both an active photographer (since 1979) and managing editor of Railfan & Railroad magazine (since 1998), Steve Barry has a front row seat on the evolving world of railroad photography. Sometimes he’s not sure which is more difficult–forcing himself to think outside the box or occasionally moving the readers of R&R outside the comfort zone of the grade crossing wedgie. In either case, he finds great inspiration in the work of others.
• Sayre Kos, senior at Lake Forest College, the next generation. Kos assists at the college’s Archives and Special Collections department. He has worked as a conductor for the Wisconsin & Southern and as an editorial intern for Trainsmagazine.

Arthur Miller, archivist and director of special collections at Lake Forest College, will welcome participants. Kevin Keefe, Vice President-Editorial, Publisher, Kalmbach Publishing Co., will give opening remarks. In addition, Carson Burrington will speak about the Center, and photo contest awards announced.

Canon has joined the list of sponsors for the conference at McCormick Auditorium in Johnson Science Center on the middle campus of Lake Forest College, one block south of Deerpath Road in Lake Forest, Illinois. Coffee and soda will be available at 8 a.m.; presentations begin at 8:45 a.m. The conference ends with a reception at 4:30 p.m.

The advance registration of $65 ($75 for nonmembers) includes lunch, breaks, parking, and reception. Information and registration forms are available from the Center at P.O. Box 259330, Madison, Wisconsin 53725-9330 or at www.railphoto-art.org/conference.asp. Memberships are available at the door.

Lake Forest is 32 miles north of Chicago, on Metra’s Union Pacific (former C&NW) North commuter line.

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. Nearby hotels/motels also include La Quinta near the IL 22 (Half Day Road) exit at I-94; Homewood Suites, Lincolnshire, also just a few minutes from the IL 22 exit at I-94; Red Roof Inn, Deerfield, near the Waukegan Road exit off the Edens Spur (I-94); and a Hyatt next to the Lake Cook Road exit off the Tri-State (I-294). Lake Forest accommodations are limited and expensive.

On Sunday from 9-11 a.m., 

For people attending the conference, photographer M. Ross Valentine will host a seminar and discussion about using iView and digital workflow. There will be additional charge of $15 to cover room expenses. Valentine’s column, “Digital Photography for Dinosaurs,” is in Trains, March 2007, page 68.