Locomotives, 1950s, by O. Winston Link

‘O. Winston Link (1914-2001) was an American photographer. He is best known for his black and white photography and sound recordings of the last days of steam locomotive railroading on the Norfolk & Western in the United States in the late 1950s.’

- Wikipedia

Thank you to Archives & Mythologie Des Lucioles

8 comments to Locomotives, 1950s, by O. Winston Link

  • rod

    genious,if not a little mysogenous..

  • Gorgeous shots, and it’s the extraordinary lighting that makes some of these stand out, as well as the juxtapositioning – the horse at the freight depot, the plane on the drive-in screen, etc. Thanks for sharing.

  • Beautiful pictures. I love the way some of them seem to jump out at me even though everything is just in shades of grey.

    :-)

  • mtcoalhopper

    Always awesome to see his work appreciated. Curiously, I have photographed the locomotive behind the J-class #127 being polished in photo seven. It’s a Y6a-class #2156, currently displayed in St Louis.

    O. Winston Link was a master of black-and-white photography. When (if?) digital is ever capable of creating images like these, then modern technology will finally have matured.

  • I met Link once and got to talk with him. He told me about making the drive-in shot – he made separate exposures for the train and for the image on the movie screen. Besides the shot of the jet, he told me he also did a shot with Ronald Reagan on the screen. I begged him to sell me a print with Reagan, but he wouldn’t do it! Oh, I wish I had talked him into it!

  • Aaah I’ve been a fan of Link since I was a kid, and it’s been an ambition of mine to recreate some of his shots using models. Somewhere there’s a picture of him and an assistant posing with a camera (a Crown Graphic I think) and the whole barrage of flashbulbs and reflectors along with miles of cables. I gotta wonder if some engineers didn’t go blind from all that flash!

  • master of the flashbulb. i aspire to be that good.

  • Amanda

    If you’re ever in the area, the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, Virginia is excellent. The photos are breathtaking and the exhibits explain and show all of the flashbulbs required for these shots. Must see!

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