Born in 1960, Richard Koenig received his BFA from Pratt Institute. In 1998 he received his MFA from Indiana University and began teaching art and photography courses at Kalamazoo College, Michigan.

His fine art work, Photographic Prevarications, was shown in six one-person exhibits in as many years (from 2007 to 2012). Koenig's long-term documentary project Contemporary Views Along the First Transcontinental Railroad spawned four articles (between 2014 and 2019). In addition, he published a memoir piece, "Growing Up in a Railroad Vacuum" in Railroad Heritage (in 2017), as well as one on New Mexico's last active semaphores in Railroad History (in 2019).

In 2020 Koenig collaborated on a project called Hoosier Lifelines: Environmental and Social Change Along the Monon (1847-2020). A journal article on the history of railroads in Traverse City, Michigan, was published in 2021 (in the Double A) as well as an article on Michigan City street running in the summer of 2022 (Quarterly Newsletter of the R&LHS).