O. Winston Link (1914-2001) was primarily a commercial photographer from New York who specialized in large format film cameras and complex lighting setups. In 1955 he was on assignment in Staunton, VA to photograph air conditioners when he started shooting the trains of the Norfolk and Western railroad. He had a love of railroads and as steam locomotives were being phased out, he approached Norfolk and Western to get permission to enter onto railroad property to make photos. Over the next five years he made over 20 trips to Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina to shoot photographs, film, and make audio recordings of the last days of the steam engine. His goal was to document a whole manner of life that was fast disappearing. He financed the entire project on his own and did not receive any income from it until the early 1980's when he began to exhibit it.
Link photographed primarily at night using flashbulbs synchronized to the camera's shutter. This way he was able stop or slow the motion of the train while controlling the light on his subject. His flash power supply could fire 60 flash bulbs synchronized to the shutters of up to three cameras giving 50,000 watts of instantaneous illumination. Each picture was planned in great detail and he spent days traveling on the railroad's passenger trains watching for possible photo sites and talking to railroad personnel about where to shoot. A single picture could take hours, even days, to set up. His photographs paint an idealized picture of small town America and are considered to be part documentary and part fine art. His railroad photographs are on display today at the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, Virginia.
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