Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the first ever “Virtual Conversations” event put on by the Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Born out of necessity because of the Covid-19 pandemic, this was an online version of the CRPA’s excellent annual “Conversations” event, normally held in Lake Forest, IL. I’ve attended a few of those events over the years and they’re always inspiring, featuring the very best of railroad photographers and artists.
Pentax K-5, Pentax FA 77mm f1.8 Limited
Apropos of the day’s event, I thought I’d present a rail image. I had this shot in my queue of images that I’ve recently re-processed while organizing my Lightroom library. Looking at this and looking at the stuff that was presented at the CRPA event today makes me realize that I really need to get out railside and start trying to better my rail photography game. Really good photography does that for me and this event certainly had that in spades.
If you’d like to see what was offered, check out the CRPA’s YouTube page. Some of the programs have already been uploaded and more will be soon. All were enjoyable but I’d highly recommend starting with the work of Travis Dewitz and Todd Halamka in Mikado’s Farewell. It’s a visual delight of the last regular service steam railroad in the world.
Many thanks to all of the CRPA staff that made this possible. It was a wonderful diversion from another weekend of quarantine and I really look forward to getting trackside again someday when this has all passed. I’ll definitely be trying to better my railroad photography skills when I do!