Tangiers Sound, Crisfield, Maryland

Photograph by A. Aubrey Bodine, © Copyright Jennifer B. Bodine

A. Aubrey Bodine was a newspaperman. His career with the Baltimore Sun began in 1923 when his first picture was published while he was still an office boy for the paper. Later he was promoted into the photographic department where he spent the next 50 years photographing Baltimore and the surrounding region, both for the newspaper and for his own personal ends.

Over time, newspapermen develop a close connection to the people and places where they work, and this sense of place combined with Bodine's artistic ambition produced a body of work that transcends the craft of the newspaper photographer and lays claim to art.

"His pictorial art was a result of unique talent, hard work and darkroom magic. He was an artist in the full sense of the word."   Harold A. Williams, Bodine: A Legend in His Time.

Bodine admired Edward Steichen, and his own style is most often referred to as Pictorialist. But his photographs avoid the vague and dreamy aspects that often characterize the work that we associate with pictorialism. The style is romantic, but clearly seen and descriptive. Perhaps Romantic Documentary is a better description of his style. He was a meticulous craftsman and used all of the technical tools at his disposal to realize his artistic vision.

The Baltimore Sun has a gallery of Bodine's work that serves as a good introduction to the artist's work.

The A.Aubrey Bodine website, operated by the artist's daughter, Jennifer Bodine, has a wealth of information, including the full text of Bodine, A Legend In His Time, a biography by Harold A. Williams, who was Bodine's editor at the Sun. The website also features thousands of Bodine's photographs arranged by themes and categories.

Thanks to the folks at the A. Aubrey Bodine website for kind permission to reproduce the photo above. Photography In Place is not affiliated with AAubreyBodine.com and does not profit in any way from it.