Railroad Noir: The American West at the End of the Twentieth Century
Narratives by Linda Grant Niemann, Photographs by Joel Jensen. Indiana University Press, 601 North Morton Street, Bloomignton, IN 47404; http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/; 11.3 x 9.1 x 0.8 in; hardbound; 168 pages, 23 color and 17 b/w photos, 1 map; 39.95
In American culture, the railroad is often …
Tag Archives: Railways
Review: Railroad noir: The American West at the end of the Twentieth Century
Photos on Railfan’s web site
Old United Railways mainline in Guild’s Lake. Portland, OR, April, 2010. Kodak TMY.
Back from the Center for Railroad Photography and Art’s 2010 “Conversations About Photography” conference in Chicagoland, I’ve got a few brief things to catch up on.
First, Railfan and Railroad has published two of my photos and a short article about the relationship …
Review: Classic Steam: Timeless Photographs of North American Steam Railroading
Classic Steam: Timeless Photographs of North American Steam Railroading
By John Gruber. Forward by William L. Withun. Fall River Press, 387 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10016; http://www.sterlingpublishing.com/imprints?imprint=Fall+River+Press; 12.25 x 12.8 in; hardbound; 224 pages, 43 color and 248 b/w photos, $19.98
The steam era of railroading in North America remains one of the most …
Review: Vis Major: Railroad Men, an Act of God: White Death at Wellington
Vis Major: Railroad Men, an Act of God: White Death at Wellington
By Martin Burwash. iUniverse, 1663 Liberty Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403; http://www.iuniverse.com/; 9 x 6 x 1.1 in; trade paperback; 480 pages, 15 maps; $29.95
In the late Winter of 1910, the largest avalanche disaster in the history of North America struck the tiny railroad town …
Review: The Call of Trains: Railroad Photographs by Jim Shaughnessy
The Call of Trains: Railroad Photographs by Jim Shaughnessy
Photographs by Jim Shaughnessy with text by Jeff Brouws. W. W. Norton, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110; http://www.wwnorton.com/; 12.1 x 10.9 x 1 in; hardbound; 224 pages, 323 duotone b/w photos, 1 illustration; $65.00
Sequels are always challenging projects to undertake. 2004 saw Jeff Brouws, erudite …
Review: Vanishing Point
David Plowden: Vanishing Point: Fifty Years of Photography
By David Plowden, forward by Richard Snow, introduction by Steve Edwards. W. W. Norton & Company, 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110; http://www.wwnorton.com/; 11.3 x 12.5 in; hardbound; 340 pages, 237 b/w photos; $100.00
A trip to the photography section of a well-stocked bookstore will yield shelves full …
Four from the Gorge
I’ve always been a bit of a procrastinator, and developing film is no exception for me. I tend to let rolls pile up until I realize I’m nearing a three-figure processing bill, and only then do I hit the lab. It could be better if I had lab space at home, but laziness combined with …
American Graffiti
2: Inside and Out
Graffiti has been a subject of debate a lot in the Portland area last year, thanks partly to Randy Leonard’s anti-graffiti measures. I want to touch on the topic a bit, but from a different perspective, from the standpoint of a photographer making images of it.
Graffiti seems to trouble some photographers, especially …
Review: The Lure of Japan’s Railways
The Lure of Japan’s Railways
By Naotaka Hirota. Japan Times, 5-4, Shibaura 4-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8071, Japan; http://www.japantimes.co.jp/; 11.3 x 8.4 in; hardbound; 168 pages, 8 color and 108 b/w photos, 2 diagrams, 1 map; $25-$40 used.
New books come out by the boatload these days, but how many of them are truly memorable? Now and then …
Brooklyn in Sepia
From all the way across the globe in Slovenia, fellow photographer Miako Kranjec sends a link to this photo set of a subject in my own back yard: Brooklyn. The images are primarily digital sepiatones. I think the toning is a bit overdone, but I’m a traditionalist who likes a straight black-and-white. Regardless they are …