Schriftzüge (2015-2025)

‘Schriftzüge’ (trains with writing on them) by Berlin based photographer Emmett Edelstein is a photo book on painted S-Bahn trains in Germany’s capital. It is the sequel book to his classic ‘Farbzüge’ (coloured trains) from 2015. Each spread shows only one single shot for full attention on the respective photo. This allows to perfectly joining the image’s scenes that present trains rushing through the city and changing their background each second. All photos have been taken from 2015 to 2025 and mainly show trains captured running on the line between stations. The interaction of the right place, time, light, timing and piece made collecting these shots a time consuming process for the photographer throughout the last decade.

In Schriftzüge Emmett Edelstein compiled many trains of writers he admired and followed their activities for years. On 228 pages you can find recent outstanding works from PEPS, KRIPOE’s comeback to trains, abstract works by the DIAMONDS crew and timeless burners by BUZZ, MAD79, or the omnipresent ROGER. In times of daily trainspotting overdoses on social media the book delivers a refreshing alternative way of enjoying well selected works on trains, printed in large scale and put together in a clean and minimalist layout. The book’s cover has a randomly added neon sticker on it which is inspired by the stickers that train drivers often put on painted trains in Berlin.

Including works from HUSKIES, DIAMONDS, KRIPOE, ROY1ST, VIPER, NOAIM, PEPS, MISERABLES, VITUS, TAPS, MAGIC, TOYLETS, ALIAS, NERO, BUS126, OSGEMEOS, SHARK, IGID, TECHR, EXOT, ZELDA, BUZZ, RETRO, MAD79, AKIM, REVO, VAZZ, BAMBOO, HELL, KLOPS, TRUS (†), DINS, MOAR, KIRD, DROW, MAMBA, BILD, AGEND, KOTZE, CYRUS, SHAKE, COST, XZESS, TRAGIC, BROA, NICK, ORION, RAGE, and many more.

Note: For the 10th anniversary of Hitzerot the first volume ‘Farbzüge’ was re-published in a slightly improved edition.

228 pages, 29,1 x 22,9 cm, black cardboard hardcover with neon sticker, open spine binding
Language: English and German
Release date: August 2025
ISBN: 978-3-9820295-9-7
Publisher: Hitzerot