The Center’s annual Conversations conference sold out for the third consecutive year, with 180 attendees coming to Lake Forest College, thirty miles north of Chicago, from thirty-seven different states and four foreign countries. The weekend included lively social hours, stimulating discussions, and a diverse lineup of informative, engaging, and entertaining presentations.

Friday featured an opening reception banquet with live music by Charlie Castner and Ron Flanary, and a photography exhibition by John Sanderson. Saturday’s full day of presentations began with Wendy Burton and Kevin Keefe discussing their new book, Railroad Vision, followed by artist J. Craig Thorpe’s engaging look at concept art. Tony Reevy shared photographer Jack Delano’s trip across the Santa Fe from his recent book about Delano, while Ron Hill gave a retrospective of his black-and-white photography. Sanderson presented his railroad landscapes, and Steve Patterson concluded the day with a lively look back at his career as both railroader and photographer. A reception followed in the college’s elegant Glen Rowan House with print and book sales and signings.

Todd Halamka kicked off Sunday morning with his stunning color photography from around the world, and then Steve Barry provided an introduction to drones and railroad photography. Emily Moser shared her photography and reflections from “Riding the Harlem Line and Beyond.” Alan Shaw offered a look at Australia’s quirky railroads, while John Gruber and John Ryan wrapped up with the weekend and a detailed look at the lives and photography of Lucius Beebe and Charles Clegg. Mark your calendars now for Conversations 2017, April 28-30 at Lake Forest College.

See eighty photographs from the weekend on Flickr by Hank Koshollek.

Conversations 2016, April 8–10 in Lake Forest, Illinois, is sold-out. If you have not yet registered but still wish to attend, please call or send an email ASAP and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Print sales and raffles
Three limited edition prints are available in this year’s print program, featuring the work of presenters Steve Patterson and Ron Hill. Two framed and matted prints, one each from photographers David Plowden and Mel Patrick, will also be given away in raffles. Patrick’s will be raffled on Friday evening and Plowden’s on Saturday. Tickets will be available at the door, and conference patrons will receive free tickets for each raffle.

2016 Docents
The Center is delighted to welcome three new docents to this year’s Conversations. They are Joe Stroppel of Glen Cove, New York; Ryan Gaynor of Toronto, Ontario; and Aviva Gellman of Madison, Wisconsin. Stroppel is a middle school student who participated in the New York City Transit Museum’s “Art on the Tracks” photography workshop last fall. Gaynor is majoring in media arts and media production at Ryerson University in Toronto. Gellman is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota and has been interning for the Center in Madison since 2013.

Registrations are now open for Conversations 2016, April 8–10 on the campus of Lake Forest College, thirty miles north of Chicago. Conversations was a sell-out in each of the last two years, so register early to ensure your spot. You will not want to miss this year’s diverse lineup of talented presenters. Visit the conference page to register, learn more, and see the lineup of presenters.

The Center’s Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography has received the George W. and Constance M. Hilton Book Award for 2015 from the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. The award recognizes outstanding work of “lasting value to the interpretation of North America’s railroading history.” John Gruber edited the book, which was a collaboration with Pablo Delano, Jack Delano’s son, with significant contributions from Jack Holzhueter, Scott Lothes, and Jeremi Suri.

The R&LHS citation calls Railroaders “the first significant biography of everyday railroaders. Taken together, the biographies constitute a history of railroad work in the first half of the 20th century. Some lives and families are shattered by tragedies. But others are enriched by ethnic tradition, educational opportunities, and persistence in demanding jobs that often paid relatively well but required great physical strength and sacrifices of family and marital life.”

Visit our book store to purchase Railroaders today.

Matthew Malkiewicz of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, received the top award of $1,000 in the Center’s 2015 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards Program. His “Beneath Calm Waters,” shows former McCloud Railway no. 25 north of Garibaldi, Oregon. He artfully took a single image of a reflection in a pool of water, reversed the image side-to-side and presented it upside down from the way it was shot—producing an exciting, much more attractive view than what he started with.

The judges said that the 2015 awards program was “truly an interesting contest, with the strongest overall batch of material to date.” See all of the winners and read more on the 2015 Awards page.