By Scott Lothes SCOTT LOTHES, a frequent Trains contributor, is the executive director of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art in Madison, Wis.

Scott Lothes, Madison, Wisconsin (Executive Director) Scott Lothes became the Center¡¯s full-time executive director in August 2011, after serving on its staff part-time since 2008. Fascinated by railroads from birth, he grew up watching coal trains in West Virginia. Lothes took up photography while attending college at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and to date some 300 of his photographs have appeared in print, along with 30 bylined articles. He won the Trains and Canon photography contest in 2003, tied for first place in the Center¡¯s 2006 Creative Photography Awards Program, and in 2008 staff at Trains magazine selected one of his photos for inclusion in its ¡°100 Greatest Railroad Photos¡± special issue. In addition to West Virginia and Ohio, he has lived in Oregon and Hokkaido, Japan, and traveled extensively in Vietnam and China. Read the press release on Lothes¡¯ appointment.

THE RAILROAD PHOTOGRAPHS OF JOEL JENSEN Joel Jensen (Photographer), John Gruber (Essay by), Scott Lothes (Essay by) With an Afterword by Jeff Brouws Essays by John Gruber, the president of the Center for Railroad Photography, and Scott Lothes, the project director for the center, help to put these wonderful photographs in context.

Scott Lothes, photo by Kyle Weismann-Yee Scott Lothes, an accomplished railroad photographer with a degree in mechanical engineering and experience in magazine journalism, has been named executive director of the Center. "I welcome Scott Lothes to the full-time position with the Center. In accepting the position, Lothes (pronounced low'-tess) noted the Center's interest in the railroad worker and its ties to the academic study of railroads and railroading. "I wish to continue developing them," he said, "as well as pushing forward with the Center's forays into social media as well as backwards into the publishing of historical articles about railroad art as well as railroad photography. I have a life-long interest in the railroad's history-making impact on America, and everyone in my family will testify to my passion for railroad photography." Lothes and his wife, Maureen Muldoon, will move from Oregon City, Oregon, to Madison, Wisconsin. In his railroad photography, Lothes, 32, focuses on the relationship between railroads and landscapes (both natural and cultural). He began photographing seriously in 1999, and in 2003 he won the Trains and Canon photography contest (see bottom photo at left). He tied for third place in the Center's Creative Photography Awards Program in 2005 (third photo at left) and tied for first place in 2006 (top photo at left). He then served on the awards program's panel of judges in 2008 and 2009. His nearly 300 photographs in print publications include covers for all of the major railroad magazines, and staff at Trains selected one of his photos for the 100 Greatest Railroad Photos special issue (see second photo at left). In 2010 Lothes had his first solo photography exhibition at the Midland Center for the Arts in Midland, Michigan, which retained one of his prints for its permanent collection. Growing up along CSX's former Chesapeake & Ohio main line near Charleston, West Virginia, he learned to count by watching 100-car coal trains. He was graduated magna cum laude in 2002 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, with a degree in mechanical engineering, aiming to design diesel locomotives. Instead, his first full-time job was as the assistant editor of the engineering magazine Sound & Vibration. He also has undertaken independent studies focused on railroads' representation in literature, which led to his "Great Writers' Lessons for Railroad Photographers" presentation at the Center's 2008 Conversations about Photography conference. His articles have appeared Trains, Locomotive, Railfan & Railroad, Railroads Illustrated, Railroad Heritage, and The Oregonian in Portland, Oregon. In 2005, Lothes left the engineering magazine to follow his college girlfriend, Maureen Muldoon, to Asia, where they married and spent nearly two years traveling, living, and working. Since 2007, Lothes has been self-employed as a freelance writer, photographer, and Web designer, based out of western Oregon. He joined the Center's staff part-time in 2008.

° Railroad Landscapes: Scott Lothes The Photography of Scott Lothes Railroads have been leaving their marks on the land for nearly two centuries, fostering both development and decline along the routes their builders chose - and didn't choose. Those routes were dictated by the land itself, the eroding forces of wind and especially water carving out the paths that steel rails now follow. Combining his passions for railroads and American landscapes, Scott Lothes explores their dynamic and ongoing relationship in his photography. Lothes was born in West Virginia in 1979 and currently lives near Portland, Oregon. He works as a freelance photographer, writer and designer, and has served as project director of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art since 2008. He won the Trains magazine photography contest in 2003 and the Center's Creative Photography Award in 2006. His work appears frequently in railroad publications and his photographs have been exhibited at several railroad museums throughout the country. Scott Lothes