A period of juvenile prosperity
(Book)

"This third edition of A Period of Juvenile Prosperity is limited to 3,000 casebound copies. The images within this book were made between 2006 and 2009 in the United States using Kodak film. The photographs are copyright Mike Brodie, 2012. Book contents are copyright Twin Palms Publisher, 2012. Book design and editing by Jack Woody. Production management by Maggie Blanchard. Typography by Arlyn Nathan. This book is set in the typeface Sentinel, which was designed by Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones in 2009. Printed and bound in China"--Colophon.

At 17 Mike Brodie hopped his first train close to his home in Pensacola, FL thinking he would visit a friend in Mobile, AL. Instead the train went in the opposite direction to Jacksonville, FL. Days later, Brodie rode the same train home, arriving back where he started. Nonetheless, it sparked something and Brodie began to wander across the U.S. by any means that were free -- walking, hitchhiking and train hopping. Shortly after, Brodie found a Polaroid camera stuffed behind a carseat. With no training in photography and coke-bottle glasses, the instant camera was an opening for Brodie to document his experiences. As a way of staying in touch with his transient community, Brodie shared his pictures on various websites gaining the moniker "The Polaroid Kidd" [sic]. When the Polaroid film he used was discontinued, Brodie switched to 35mm film and a sturdy 1980's camera. Brodie spent years crisscrossing the U.S. amassing a collection, now appreciated as one of the most impressive archives of American travel photography.