2015 Photography Awards: Be Creative

The 2015 Awards Program is Closed

Close to one hundred photographers submitted 389 images for consideration in the 2015 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards Program. The entries come from thirty states and seven foreign countries, and represent a diverse mix of styles and approaches. Winners will be announced by December 1.

Details of the 2015 Awards Program

“Be creative” is the theme for the Center’s 2015 John E. Gruber Creative Photography Awards Program. Send us your best, your most creative railroad photographs—views you would be proud to share on the Internet or with friends. Stop, look, and listen, observe what is happening around you—then put your creativity to work. Create your photographs. We are not placing restrictions on your creativity and your opportunities are not limited by specific themes, but photographs must have been taken after December 31, 2010. Digital manipulation is perfectly acceptable so long as it is stated. Remember that interpretations of railroads can be subtle. Don’t ignore the personal side of railroading. Look to the future. What may have seemed creative in the past may be passé today.

For Scans
If you are sending scans, please scan 35mm slides or negatives with a resolution of at least 2,000 pixels per inch (ppi); medium format negatives or transparencies at 1,200 ppi or higher; large format negatives or transparencies at 600 ppi or higher; 8×10 prints at 300 ppi or higher.

Copyrights
Entrants retain full copyrights to their photographs. By submitting an entry, you grant the Center one-time use for your work in our journal, Railroad Heritage, on our website, and/or on any of our social media platforms. You also grant Railfan & Railroad magazine one-time use for your work in print and on their website.

Eric Williams, Millburn, New Jersey, took first prize in the 2014 photography awards with this dramatic view of Junction 18 on Chicago’s ‘L.’ The theme was “lasting impressions.”

Theme: Be creative
Deadline: October 1, 2015
Winners announced: December 1, 2015
Submit to: award [at] railphoto-art [dot] org
Format: Up to five (5) full-size JPEG files at “high” or “maximum” quality setting
Include: Your full name, street address, phone number, email address, and brief captions that include location and date
Publication: Railroad Heritage and Railfan & Railroad
Exhibition: California State Railroad Museum
First Prize: $1,000
Second Prize: $500
Third Prize: $250

Conversations 2015: Our best yet?

Conversations 2015 is a wrap, and the foremost question on everyone’s mind at the Center is, simply, “What can we ever do to top this?” German guest Axel Zwingenberger played world-class boogie-woogie piano music and showed world-class night steam photography. Art collector Peter Mosse swept attendees into a whirlwind and globe-trotting tour of the fascinating world of railroad paintings. The curator of Britain’s National Railway Museum, Ed Bartholomew, presented a riveting overview of 175 years of British railway photography in less than forty-five minutes. Renowned photographers from across the country showed stunning images and provided insightful commentary on their methods and intentions, including J. Parker Lamb, one of the deans of American railroad photography. There were few dull moments for the close-to-capacity crowd of 175 attendees, who enjoyed sumptuous meals, lively social hours, and ample opportunities to converse with dozens of leaders in the fields of railroad photography and art. Topping Conversations 2015 is a tall order, but you can trust that the Center is up to the task. In the meantime, enjoy a “Top Ten” list about the conference from Trains editor Jim Wrinn and eighty views through the skillful eye of photographer Henry A. Koshollek.

World-renowned German pianist and photographer Axel Zwingenberger, one of the five best boogie-woogie piano players in the world, got Conversations 2015 off to a rocking start with his music on Friday night. The “Boogiemeister prophet of steam” also presented his stunning and, at times, death-defying night photography of German steam locomotives. Photograph by Henry A. Koshollek

Protected: Conference Weekend Package

Conversations 2015: Print Program, Raffles, Docents

Conference presenter and renowned photographer J. Parker Lamb has donated a 16×20 print of the above photograph to be raffled on Saturday at Conversations 2015. Another print from David Plowden will be raffled on Friday, and Plowden plans to attend both the Friday dinner and the Saturday reception with his wife, Sandra. Tickets for both raffles are available on the 2015 conference page and will also be for sale at the door.

Two new prints are available through the Center’s Print Program. The 2015 offerings come from Ted Benson and Jeff Mast. Benson’s “Blossoms come to the Tidewater Southern” is an 11×14 silver gelatin print made by the photographer. Mast’s “Cumbres & Toltec” is a 10×15 archival pigment print made by program coordinator Jeff Brouws. Both are available in limited editions of ten, signed by the photographer. Pre-order for pickup at the conference to save ten percent.

We are excited to welcome five docents to Conversations 2015. They are photographers Brandon Townley, Davidson Ward, and John Sanderson, and archivists Jim Cascino and Andy Meyer. Townley, of Toledo, Ohio, is a talented professional photographer and first-time attendee. Ward comes from Nashville, Tennessee, and is attending his third conference—his first as a docent. He is a photographer, transportation consultant, and steam preservationist. Sanderson is returning for his second tour as a docent and brings a wealth of photography exhibition knowledge from his work in New York City galleries. Cascino and Meyer are both first-time attendees and currently working on the Center’s photography collections at Lake Forest College. We thank the conference patrons, whose generosity makes the docent program possible.

Just a few tickets remain for Conversations 2015. Get them while they last!

Illinois Central steam locomotive no. 2613 at Cairo, Illinois, in 1959, in a photograph by J. Parker Lamb. Lamb will share a retrospective of his work at Conversations about Photography on Sunday, April 12, 2015. He has donated a 16×20 print of this photograph, which will be raffled on Saturday. Tickets are available in the conference page.

Tickets on sale for Conversations 2015

Reserve your spot for the Center’s annual conference, Conversations about Photography, April 10-12 on the campus of Lake Forest College, 30 miles north of Chicago. Headliners include J. Parker Lamb, Ted Benson, Dale Sanders, and Axel Zwingenberger. Peter Mosse will share selections from his extensive art collection, one of the largest private collections of railroad paintings in country. James Swensen, a BYU professor, will look at the railroad photography of Russell Lee. See the full line-up and purchase tickets on the conference page. Last year’s conference sold-out, so make your reservations now.

Scholarships, funded by conference patrons, are available for young and/or emerging photographers and other visual artists. The deadline for applications is February 1; recipients will be announced by February 13.

In an iconic photograph by J. Parker Lamb, a Gulf, Mobile & Ohio fireman enjoys a cool breeze as his freight train heads north behind Alco FAs at Marion, Mississippi, in July 1958. Lamb will share a retrospective of his work at Conversations about Photography on Sunday, April 12, 2015.