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February 1942. "Hettinger, North Dakota. Street scene after a snowstorm." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Office of War Information. View full size.
What an extraordinarily masterful exposure and development of this photograph.
The range and detail in the darker areas, the control of light from the windows and street lights, combined with a great composition and subject matter makes this truly memorable.
Oh, this photo immediately brought back memories of my childhood winters in Upstate New York! This type of coldness makes it difficult to get warm even when you've come inside and you're standing next to the kitchen stove. As you breathe in that frigid air, your nose and then your lungs freeze up. The lack of sunlight at that time of year just added to the moroseness.
The temperature is near zero or below and the air is dry and still. You step on the sidewalk with that skift of snow, as my mother called it, in your five buckle arctics and hear that soft screech. Baby it's cold outside.
If there is any place colder than Minnesota, it would be North Dakota. The "refrigerated" truck in that photo might actually keeping something warm, not cold.
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