Can’t believe the summer is gearing down already as the vacationers have left for the last bits of sun worshipping, splashing or just seeing the warm months of relationships outdoors start to wane.
Yep, soon all of the still photos of the fun will be headed to the memory banks, and we’ll be there to help you preserve these with some pretty cool options.
But it ain’t over yet. So chill.

There is one photographer, though, that has taken some iconic images of a summertime from the past. A hot night shared in a convertible, or swimming in a local watering hole.
These are not my summer memories, but one that belong in the world of O. Winston Link, perhaps the greatest train photographers, that ever lived. Click the link to take you to the museum dedicated to his work.

Trains and summer? Whaaat?

Yes, that’s right.
Take this classic photograph: Hot Shot Eastbound

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Sure, planes, trains, and automobiles, but this was live, not photoshop.

Winston once stated, “Since I could only see the headlight of the locomotive in total darkness, I did not know until the flash was fired that I had captured this prize.” The couple in the foreground sits in Winston’s 1952 Buick convertible. The image on the movie screen is from the 1955 motion picture “Battle Taxi”, which was being shown that evening.
You can almost feel the heat of the night, and the smell of popcorn as the train came by. You have to wonder what that train did to the sound,even though the speakers was set into the car.

Or perhaps this Hawksbill Creek Swimming Hole from 1956 where the heat of the day gave way to the comfort of the night in the local swimming hole with the train intersecting and connecting the world of that time.
[photopress:HAWKSB_1.jpg,full,centered] © O. Winston Link

He seemed to prefer shooting at night and the precision and knowledge of schedules was critical. As you can see.
With custom designed 43 Flash bulb units, he and his assistant, George Thom, would light the night, and capture a part of America, the Steam Engine, that would be nearly gone by 1960.

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These images are from, yes I’m saying it, a simpler time.

However, his life became fairly complex near the end as his ex-wife stole many prints, was jailed for selling stolen property and Mr. Link became a slightly embittered man. Surprising, eh?
The story goes that he died in his car at a railway station while driving himself to the hospital.

OK, that’s one way to look at summer.

Another, a little closer to home for me, is the 4 for a quarter photobooths.
Summer in the city was the opportunities, now and again to escape the concrete and get to the shore. Any shore.
Jones Beach, Coney Island, Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Wildwood.
And all of the shoreline oasis’s had arcades. We’re talking Skeeball, pinball, fortune tellers, and photobooths.
For 25 cents, you and your buddies could pile into a tiny booth, select a brown curtain as a background and time your sunny funny faces into 4 different poses before waiting the 3-5 mins for a slightly damp, slightly curved strip of memories came falling into the steel cage ready for you to retrieve, and fight over who got what shot.
I still have those shots and every time I look at them I remember that summer. And those friends. And that fun.
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So this week we want to share these 2 thoughts with you in the form of books. Steel Steam and Bars by O.Winston Link and American Photobooth By Nakki Goranin and David Haberstich.

The special words for entry into the weekly giveaway will be in the NEWSLETTER this week.

First of all you MUST be signed up for the NEWSLETTER. Then…. on Weds. @ 9:00 AM PST check your email in-box
1. Open the email from damonw@photoinduced.com and Hit Reply
3. Delete the main body of the email (saving server space).
4. Put either “special word” -included ONLY in the email , in the subject line.
5. Add a shipping address.
6. Make sure you followed all of the above directions.
7. Hit send.

And depending which memory bank you want to tap, the specific book will be sent to you. If your reply is the 30th into our mailbox.
What kind of memories are you shooting this summer?

PS : someone did ask if I shot some snaps at the local farmers market again this past weekend.
Yep, I did. It’s like working out a muscle. Just have to keep doing it. Eventually it’ll get strong.
I hope.
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This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Photo News, Weekly Giveaway. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.