Gooseneck Dam, Maury River

(1914 - 2001) Originally trained as a civil engineer, O. Winston Link worked for over forty years as a commercial photographer, producing photographs suited to his client's needs. O. Winston Link's most famous project, the series of the Norfolk and Western Railway, was the result of Link's desire to document a part of United States' history that was quickly fading. Link's purpose was to photograph the end of the steam engine in such a way that the images would be a lasting tribute to this period. Unlike the street photography of the time which only used available light, Link's technique employed elaborate staging and synchronization of flashes on a large scale. In addition, Link used a large-format camera as opposed to the popular 35mm. O. Winston Link has published two books of his work: "Steam, Steel, and Stars", (1987) and "The Last Steam Railroad in America" (1995). His images are included in the collections of museums and galleries worldwide and it is possible to own a piece of Link's history of the steam engine.