(The following report by Jon Leu appeared on the Daily Nonpareil website on September 19.)
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — A prestigious photography exhibit will bring some of the nation’s most iconic images to the Union Pacific Railroad Museum.
The exhibit, titled “Picturing What Matters: An Offering of Photographs,” from the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, N.Y., will open Saturday.
A private preview has been planned for Friday at 7 p.m. Special guest will be John Gaps III, a former Associated Press photographer who covered assignments worldwide and is now with the Des Moines Register.
There is no charge for the Friday night preview session for members of the Friends of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum. The cost for non-members wishing to attend the preview is $10 per person. Those who plan to attend the Friday night preview must register in advance with Andi Hodge by calling 329-8307.
Gaps, a world-renowned photojournalist will give brief Power Point presentations on his work at a number of Council Bluffs locations before Friday night’s preview at the UP Museum.
Gaps will be at The Center, 714 S. Main St., from 10-11 a.m., and at the Arts Center at Iowa Western Community College from 12-1 p.m. He will also talk about and display his work at Lewis Central High School from 2-2:50 p.m.
Gaps, a former World-Herald photographer who spent many years traveling the world as a staff photographer for The Associated Press, is showing his work as part of a series of lectures to introduce the photography exhibit from the George Eastman House on behalf of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum.
Gaps’ presentation, which will also be given at the UP Museum preview, provides the public with an excellent opportunity to see some of his incredible story telling through photography. The images include those from dangerous theatres of war, famine, insurrection and natural disasters.
Gaps was there for the fall of the Berlin Wall, has also covered 10 Super Bowls and six Olympic Games, the funeral of Princess Diana and spent 15 years circling the globe on assignment for The Associated Press.
He is also the author of “God Left Us Alone Here… A book of war,” a collection of war photos, poetry and journal entries from his time spent in war zones.
Patricia LaBounty, outreach coordinator for the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, said Gaps plans to remain at the museum following his presentation Friday evening to walk through the George Eastman exhibit with patrons to discuss the images.
“This is a major coup for the people in our community,” said Patricia Murphy, president of the board of directors for the Friends of the Union Pacific Railroad Museum. “An exhibit of this caliber is an opportunity not to be missed that will trigger emotions for all generations.”
The exhibit of nearly 125 photographs will include famous images, such as Joe Rosenthal’s historic flag raising on Iwo Jima, Ben Fernandez’s portrait of Martin Luther King outside the United Nations and Dorothea Lange’s poignant “Migrant Mother” as well as pictures of people and places of the United States from the last two centuries.
There will be no admission charge to view the exhibit after Friday night’s preview. Funding from the Iowa West Foundation is making the exhibit possible.
The George Eastman House exhibit will be complemented by a display of photographs of the Golden Spike Celebration at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869, from the Union Pacific Railroad Museum Collection, some of which are widely known and others seldom published.
The George Eastman House exhibit will run through Nov. 17.
The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is located in downtown Council Bluffs at 200 Pearl St. in the former Carnegie Free Public Library building. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.