李炬，男，1959年出生，北京人，自由摄影师，历史影像研究者。
2010年在美国旅行时，1860年代华工修建的铁路，引发浓厚兴趣。研究了大量中央太平洋铁路的历史照片和资料，对阿尔弗雷德·哈特（Alfred Hart）1860年代拍摄的照片特别有兴趣。
2012-2014年三次驾车沿太平洋铁路从加州萨克拉门托到犹他州盐湖城，其中一次到内布拉斯加州奥马哈，沿途寻觅太平洋铁路华工的足迹，拍摄了大量照片。作为志愿者，为铁路华工故乡的《南方日报》记者做向导和顾问， 10多天连载报道铁路华工的历史，让人们更多地了解了一百五十年前的历史往事。
与黄安年教授合作编写《沉默道钉的足迹》，近期将在中国铁道出版社出版。
2013年秋李炬在西拉内华达山顶唐纳关废弃的铁路隧道旁，远景为唐纳湖
Li Ju is seen by the abandoned railroad tracks near the Donner Pass from Summit Tunnel in fall, 2013
Li Ju, born in 1959 in Beijing, is a freelance photographer and independent scholar on historical photographs. He is a computer engineer with a degree in computer science.
In 2010, during a trip in the U.S. following American photographer William Henry Jackson’s photographic journey in the 1860s, he was drawn to stories behind the Central Pacific Railroad built by Chinese workers. He looked through many historical photographs and studied the history of the Central Pacific Railroad and its Chinese workers. He has traveled long the railroad three times to find the footprints of the Chinese laborers, and he created a blog of his travels. He has also produced a series of paired photographs of the railroad and the Chinese workers, with his own photographs of the same scenes today placed alongside the original photographs in the 1860s by Alfred Hart.
A description of his trip may be found here.
He is collaborating with Professor Huang Annian on a photo-book on the Central Pacific Railroad, tentatively titled Trace the Silent Spike: Commemorate Chinese Workers Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 150 Years, that is expected to be released in 2015 by China Railway Press.
These are some of the photos he took paired with Alfred Hart’s photos from the 1860s.
