O. Winston Link

Ogle Winston LinkLink was named after two of his maternal ancestors : the twentieth Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Winston Jones and Pennsylvanian Representative Alexander Ogle. Last Railroad p. 132. (December 16 1914 – January 30 2001), known commonly as O. Winston Link, was an American photographer. He is best known for his black and white photography and sound recordings of the last days of steam locomotive railroading in the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. A commercial photographer by trade, Winston Link helped establish rail photography as a hobby. His night photography was also pioneering, and produced several very well known examples, including "Hotshot Eastbound," a photograph with steam train passing a drive-in movie theater, and "Hawksill Creek Swimming Pool, Luray, West Virginia" with a train passing children swimming near a bridge. O. Winston Link Museum website biography. Page 1955-8. Accessed 12 June 2006

Early life

Link and his siblings, Eleanor and Albert Jr., spent their childhood in Brooklyn, New York, where they lived with their father, Albert Sr., and their mother, Anne. Albert Link worked in the New York City Public School system, where he taught woodworking. Albert encouraged this and other skills to his children, including Winston's first introduction to photography.

Link's early photography was created with a borrowed medium format Autographic Kodak camera. By the time he was in high school Link had built his own photographic enlarger. Last Railroad pp. 132-3.Museum p. 3

After completing high school, Link attended the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, receiving a degree in civil engineering. Prior to his graduation in 1937, Link gave a speech at banquet for the institute's newspaper, where Link served as photo editor. An executive with Carl Byoir's public relations firm was in attendance and was much impressed with Link's manner and speaking ability, and offered Link a job as a photographer.Last Railroad p. 136.

Career

Link worked for Carl Byoir and Associates for five years, learning his trade on the job. He adapted to the technique of making posed photographs looking candid, as well as creatively emphasizing a point. Some of Link's photographs from this time included an image of a man aiming a gun at a pig wearing a bulletproof vest, and one eventually known as "What Is This Girl Selling?" or "Girl on Ice," which was widely published in the United States and later featured in Life magazine as a "classic publicity picture." According to Thomas Garver, once assistant to Link, Link's employ at Byoir's firm "clearly defined a point of view and developed working methods that were to shape his entire career."Last Railroad pp. 136-9.Museum p. 4.

With war consuming much of the rest world and soon to reach the United States, and Link unable to join the military due to mumps-induced hearing loss, Link left Byoir's employ in 1942 to work for the Airborne Instruments Laboratory, part of Columbia University. Drawing on both his university degree and professional photographic experience, Link worked at the laboratory as both project engineer and photographer. At the time, the laboratory was researching a device for low-flying airplanes to detect submarines underwater. Link's main responsibity was photographically documenting the project for the United States' government.Museum p. 5.Last Railroad p. 140.

In 1945, with the end of the war, Link's employment at the Airborne Insturments Laboratory also ended. While Carl Byoir invited Link back, but Link decided to open his own studio instead. It opened in 1946 and his clients included B. F. Goodrich, Alcoa Aluminum, Texaco, and Ethyl Corporation.Last Railroad p. 142.

Rail photography

Later life

In 1996, Link's second wife, Conchita, was arrested for (and subsequently convicted of) stealing a collection of Link's photographs, after she attempted to sell them, claiming that Link had Alzheimer's disease and that she had power of attorney. She served six years in prison. After being released, she again attempted to sell some of Link's works, that she had stolen, this time using the internet auction site eBay. She received a three year sentence. "Ex-Wife's 2nd Trial". 6 May 2004. The Hook. Accessed 19 June 2006.

Museum

The rail photography of Winston Link is featured at the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, Virginia which opened in January, 2004. The museum is housed in the former passenger station of the Norfolk and Western Railway (N&W), the last Class I railroad to convert from steam motive power in 1960. Link's work in the late 1950s was encouraged and facilitated by N&W officials, whose company had long built its own locomotives in the Roanoke Shops and had refined use of steam locomotives in earning it reputation for "precision transportation."

Adjacent to the O.W. Link Museum on Roanoke is the Virginia Museum of Transportation which includes a special pavilion constructed to house the static display of the Norfolk & Western J-611 and A-1218 steam locomotives which were operated in excursion service in the 1980s and early 1990s.

In popular culture

Link made a cameo appearance as a steam locomotive engineer in the 1999 film October Sky.
One of Link's photographs, "Hotshot Eastbound," portrayed a night scene of a steam locomotive passing adjacent to a drive-in movie theater, with cars parked inside and an airplane on the screen. This scene was duplicated in "Dumbbell Indemnity", an episode of The Simpsons.Visual comparison between "Hotshot Eastbound" and The Simpsons scene

References

Thomas H. Garver (1995). The Last Steam Railroad in America. Abradal Press. ISBN 0810982013.
Thomas H. Garver (2004). O. Winston Link: The Man and the Museum. O. Winston Link Museum. ISBN 0971053146.
O. Winston Link Museum official website

Notes

External link

Virginia Museum of Transportation official website

1914 births | 2001 deaths | American photographers | Important people in rail transport

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