Bruce Springsteen’s Glory Days Chronicled in New Photo Book

Photographer Debra L. Rothenberg has spent more than 30 years shooting Bruce Springsteen. It helped that she grew up in New Jersey, and her first post-college job was working at a newspaper on the Jersey shore. In her new photo book, 'Bruce Springsteen in Focus 1980-2012,' Rothenberg gathers more than 250 pictures of the Boss onstage, backstage and hamming it up with fans.

From intimate club shows to massive stadium gigs, Rothenberg captures Springsteen in all his sweaty glory. She was even fortunate enough to be at some of the rare club gigs in New Jersey where Springsteen hopped onstage as an unannounced guest. You can see a video trailer for the book, which also includes essays about Springsteen, above.

"The stories he tells and his characters in those songs are all of us," Rothenberg tells Ultimate Classic Rock. "He sings of love and heartbreak and struggles and hopelessness and dreams. His songs have always made me laugh and cry."

Rothenberg, a concert photographer for the New York Daily News and other publications, says she's photographed Springsteen more than anyone outside of her immediately family. "His shows today, in 2013 as a 64-year-old, are as energetic and dynamic as they were when I first saw him when he was 31," she says. "I can go to one of his concerts feeling tired and achy and holding the camera hurts, and as soon as he steps on that stage, all those feelings leave me. I feel like I am 18 again, seeing and shooting him for the first time."

She's even holding the new book's launch party at Springsteen's old stomping ground the Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Oct. 12. Below are a half-dozen photos found in 'Bruce Springsteen in Focus 1980-2012,' which spans concerts in support of 'The River' to more recent shows from the 2012 tour for his latest album, 'Wrecking Ball.'