A. Aubrey Bodine: Master Pictorialist's Photographic Legacy Revealed

The news release highlights the remarkable photographic legacy of A. Aubrey Bodine (1906-1970), who was regarded as one of the finest pictorialists of the twentieth century in international photographic circles. His career began in 1923 with the Baltimore Sunday Sun, where he created extraordinary documentary images of Maryland life that transcended typical newspaper photography through their artistic design and lighting. Bodine's work was exhibited in prestigious shows and museums worldwide, and he consistently won top honors in national and international salon competitions, establishing him as a master of his craft.

Bodine approached photography as a creative discipline, studying art principles at the Maryland Institute College of Art and treating his camera and darkroom equipment as artistic tools akin to a painter's brush. His exceptional craftsmanship involved innovative techniques including composing images directly in the viewfinder, working on negatives with dyes, intensifiers, pencil markings, and scraping to achieve desired effects, and even adding clouds photographically. He famously stated that he didn't take pictures but made pictures, believing the final image was what mattered, not the method of creation. The release specifically mentions his photograph "The Railroad that Stuck to Steam (1959)" featuring a locomotive at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC, which can be ordered through the website www.aaubreybodine.com along with his extensive collection.

More than 6,000 photographs spanning Bodine's 47-year career are available for viewing and purchase as reprints and note cards at www.aaubreybodine.com, where visitors can also read the full biography "A Legend In His Time" written by his editor and closest friend Harold A. Williams. The website serves as the primary resource for accessing Bodine's extraordinary body of work and learning about his innovative techniques that blended documentary photography with fine art sensibilities, making his images accessible to new generations of photography enthusiasts and collectors.