Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden

Central Vermont Railway locomotive no. 707, White River Jct., Vermont, 1957. Photo by David Plowden.Photo copyright David Plowden.

September 23 through December 11. Grohmann Museum at Milwaukee School of Engineering, 1025 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The exhibition features 30 photographs from Plowden’s new book, Requiem for Steam, all made by the photographer in his digital darkroom and rivaling his gelatin silver prints for visual impact. Railroads, and particularly steam locomotives, were among Plowden’s first subjects, and many of the photographs feature American and Canadian steam operations from 1954 through 1960. Plowden has continued to document the railroad landscape, and the latest photograph is from 2004, although the photographer is quick to note, “There’s nary a diesel in sight!” Plowden will give a presentation and book signing on Friday, October 21. The exhibition is sponsored by the Center and will be ready to travel in 2012. Contact Scott Lothes (scott [at] railphoto-art.org) for more information about booking the show for your museum or gallery.

Rail Travel Writing and Photography Workshop

October 16-21, 2011, Depot Inn & Suites, La Plata, Missouri (on the route of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief). A Rail Travel Writing and Photography Workshop for railfans, journalists, writers, bloggers and camera fans of all skill levels. The workshop is sponsored by the American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation Silver Rails Gallery and will be taught by two noted TrainWeb field reporters—Carl Morrison, a widely published professional photographer, and Henry Kisor, author of Zephyr: Tracking a Dream Across America. Participants will learn skills in photographing and writing about train travel, including on-board and trackside shooting, gathering information and interviewing crew and passengers, tailoring stories to specific audiences and publications. A welcome reception is on Sunday evening, October 16, and classes will be held Monday through Thursday mornings, giving plenty of time to write and go out into the field with camera and notebook in the afternoons. There will be a wrapup party Thursday evening, October 20. Tuition is $125 for all five days; special hote and rental car rates are available.

Train Festival 2011

Thanks to everyone who visited the Center’s booth at Train Festival 2011 in Rock Island, Illinois. We displayed two rotating photography exhibitions, one in memorial of Ryan Schoenfeldt (1976-2011) and one of Jack Delano’s World War II photos of Chicago & North Western’s women workers at Clinton, Iowa, 30 miles up the Mississippi River from Rock Island. Thanks to everyone who made the event possible. See more on our Facebook page.

2012 Awards Program: Railroading, Inspired by Steinheimer

The theme for the Center’s 2012 Creative Photography Awards Program is “Railroading, inspired by Steinheimer.” His wife, Shirley Burman Steinheimer, also a skilled photographer, will be the guest judge. In 2011, Miško Kranjec, of Ljubljana, Slovenia, topped a very close race in the Center’s 2011 Creative Photography Awards Program. Second place went to Stephen Hussar of Reading, Massachusetts, while Patrick J. Cashin, Brooklyn, New York, received third place honors.

David Plowden Exhibition at Essex, Connecticut

The Center’s exhibition Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden is at the Oliver Jensen Gallery at the Valley Railroad Company in Essex, Connecticut, from June 25 through September 6. The exhibition consists of 30 black-and-white inkjet prints from the photographer’s new book of the same name, released in October 2010 from W.W. Norton. Essex is the second venue for the show, which was previously at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento and will travel next to the Grohmann Museum in Milwuakee for the fall.