Book Review: Diesels and dinosaurs: Photographs from the American highway

Yesterday's highway

I've frequently seen Steve Fitch's book mentioned here and there in other books about the highway and commonplace America. It always seemed rather obscure and now that I have a copy I find that it was only published in two thousand copies by a relatively unknown publisher.

The photos were taken between 1971 and 1975 and perhaps it was unfortunate that there are only fifty of them in the book and the majority of these are night shots (including ten of the huge fronts of drive-in movie theaters). With such a small number of photos I would have expected everyone to count but I thought there were a few that seemed out of place and weakened the overall feel of the book. What did come across, because they were taken at night, was a feeling of quietness that the wide open spaces of the Plains creates when you drive across the land with just car headlines to reveal the world.

The book is a handsome production in the classic photo book format: large images with generous margins; printed as 200 screen duotones on a good matt art paper. A nice touch is printing the photos with a slight sepia cast which also enhances the quietness I mentioned.

Published in 1976 at a very reasonable price but now three and half decades later Steve Fitch's book looks like it might become harder and more expensive to find.

Diesels and dinosaurs: Photographs from the American highway is available at Amazon (US | UK)

Another photo book by Steve Finch,an excellent study of abandonement on the Plains.

The sort of shot I find fascinating, straight on and full of detail with a natural frame, too.

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This book is available at:
Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk