Seventy Years of Railway Photography : Seven Decades Behind the Lens

Colin Boococks' railway photographs are already familiar as they have been featured in a variety of railway books and magazines. This book shows around 300 of his favourite images that illustrate the many different aspects of railway photography. The key seven chapters in this book each cover one decade from the 1940s up to the present day. Not only do they display the early improvement in his photography as he gained experience, they also bring into focus how much railways have changed over the last seventy years. Grimy steam locomotives in smoky surroundings persisted in ever-reducing pockets as more modern forms of traction spread across our railways. Working steam finally disappeared from UK main lines in 1968 and around coal mines in the mid-1980s. The later chapters benefit greatly from Colins' worldwide travels, in which he searched for more unfamiliar railways. The growth of heritage railways also features. Useful appendices add insights into Colins' experience of camera technologies and photographic techniques. These emphasize the changes that have faced him as his photography has moved from black-and-white to colour and from films and darkrooms to the computer and the digital age. Colin last used film in early 2004, having embraced digital photography with enthusiasm. 300 colour and b/w photographs Cover Book Title Copyright CONTENTS Acknowledgments Preface Introduction Chapter 1: The 1940s – Beginnings Chapter 2: The 1950s – Steam’s post-war heyday Chapter 3: The 1960s – Diesel’s rise and steam’s decline Chapter 4: The 1970s – Faster trains, industrial steam, and tourist railways Chapter 5: The 1980s – BR progress, UK and continental railway preservation Chapter 6: The 1990s – Towards privatisation, the wider search for working steam Chapter 7: The 2000s – Modern trains and working steam the world over Chapter 8: The 2010s – UK railways at their busiest ever Appendix 1: Techniques in film photography Appendix 2: Digital railway photography Appendix 3: Rules for composition; camera techniques Appendix 4: Life after death Postscript Back Cover