Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14486 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Synopsis
Late years of steam railway in America - 1955 to 1960 - are documented in this book by American photographer O.Winston Link. The black and white photos taken at night capture the drama and energy of the great trains in action.

Customer Reviews

Only one fly in the ointment
Almost as soon as I opened it I was disappointed with this book.
Oh, not with the photographs, nor with the text - both are excellent, particularly the photographs.
My criticism is of the `Why, oh why, oh why' variety and is something that is common and so annoying with this type of book.
Why, oh why, oh why do they have to print these superb pictures across the fold?
The gain in size is small but breaking up the picture in this way detracts badly.
However, for the price here - anyone who likes Link's work must buy a copy.

Sheer Genius
That Link undertook the N&WR project in his own time is amazing enough. As an untrained photographer his images, especially captured with flash, are an insight into another world - both that of the N&WR/the time and that of what is possible when you put your mind to it. The images in this book encouraged me to seek out the Link Museum in Roanoke on a recent trip to the US. With yet more of his work and more insight into the man and his photography this too is a must for any photographer and/or lover of steam.

OWL - The man who perfected night railway photography,
O. Winston Link was the man whose images of steam have become an important social documentary of 1950s rural American life as well as the definitive record of the end of the steam era in the USA.
He spent years researching and photographing the Norfolk and Western - the last major railroad in America to use steam. His photographs are especially notable for two reasons. He mastered the technique of lighting a speeding locomotive at night by using multiple synchronised flashes - working out every minute detail during the lengthy and meticulous planning sessions.
He often included features of rural life in his photos - the bathers in the creek, the cows being led into the farm, the interior of the general store - scenes that he set up (the bathers wouldn't normally be swimming in the dark) to provide the frame in which the train would appear. Wonderful images of Virginian life - a lost era which Winston has captured for posterity.
The most memorable image? For me it is 'Ole Maud' at Green Cove which is such a beautiful peaceful photograph - worth the price of the book alone.
Steam, Steel & Stars also includes a history of the N&W. The 90 photographs are reproduced in generous sized duotone. Buy the book if you are interested in American steam, superb photography by a master of his craft or documentary images from the 1950s of rural American life. The man was a huge talent and we should be grateful that he has left us these outstanding photographs.