Booknote: Trains

Jennifer B. Bodine, Trains: Photography of A. Aubrey Bodine. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-7643-5493-9. 

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: art and photography
Format: e-book galley
Source: NetGalley

If you enjoy photography, especially good quality black and white photos, and you like trains, you'll probably like this book. Jennifer Bodine does a labor of love bringing this collection of her father's train photos to life.

So, who was the artist/photographer?

"A. Aubrey Bodine (1906- 1970)-- pictorialist, modernist, and documentarian and newspaper man-- was a Baltimore Sunday Sun feature photographer from 1927- 1970" (introduction). 

In her introduction, the book's author expands on the artist's technique, which was extremely skilled. To appreciate it further, consider this was a time way before any photo editing software existed or even computers. The artist was so good and talented he was honored by both the Photographic Society of America and the National Press Photographers Association; he was the first photographer ever to be honored by both of these societies.

The photos in the book are very beautiful and a pleasure to look at. I saw them on an e-book galley, so I hope they look a lot better in print. Once the photos start after the introduction, text in the book is minimal to allow us to just admire the work.

Overall, I really liked this book. Train buffs may want to consider it for their collections. Libraries with strong photography collections may want to acquire it. For libraries in the artist's geographic area, this is likely a must.

4 out of 5 stars.