"The smoke and the fire and the speed, the action and the sound, and everything that goes together, [the steam engine] is the most beautiful machine that we ever made, there's just nothing like it."
~ O. Winston Link
(1914-2001)
Winston Link was working in a time when the great steam locomotives were making their final runs across small-town America. It’s hard to think of anyone else who documented this moment quite the way he did. He wasn’t just photographing trains, he was capturing a whole way of life, often using elaborate lighting setups that transformed these nighttime scenes into something almost theatrical. Link's images remind us of a world that’s long since moved on from steam and stillness, Link’s work lets us linger in it just a little longer.
