The photograph "Mountain Club of Maryland (1946)" by A. Aubrey Bodine offers a glimpse into a mid-20th century climbing expedition. After ascending Big Schloss, some members of the club continued to explore the surrounding rock formations, completing the ascent and descent in a single day. This image is part of Bodine's extensive body of work, which spans 47 years and includes more than 6,000 photographs available for viewing at www.aaubreybodine.com.
A. Aubrey Bodine (1906-1970) is regarded as one of the finest pictorialists of the twentieth century. His pictures were exhibited in hundreds of prestigious shows and museums, earning awards against top competition. Bodine's photographic career began in 1923 covering stories for the Baltimore Sunday Sun. He traveled throughout Maryland, creating remarkable documentary pictures of occupations and activities, often with artistic design and lighting effects beyond typical newspaper standards. Bodine submitted photographs to national and international salon competitions and consistently won top honors.
Bodine believed photography could be a creative discipline and studied art principles at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He treated the camera and darkroom equipment as tools, much like a painter's brush or sculptor's chisel. His craftsmanship involved constant experimentation: composing pictures in the viewfinder, working on negatives with dyes, pencil marking, and even scraping to achieve desired effects. He added clouds photographically and made other manipulations. His rationale was that, like a painter, he selected features suiting his sense of mood, proportion, and design. He did not take a picture; he made a picture.
For more information about Bodine, the full biography "A Legend In His Time" by Harold A. Williams is available on the website. The image "Mountain Club of Maryland (1946)" can be ordered by using image ID 48-316 on the site. More than 6,000 photographs spanning Bodine's career are available for viewing and can be ordered as reprints and note cards at www.aaubreybodine.com.
