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Monday 6 September 2010

John Vachon: In the Heartland: Winter


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Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Rainy day, Indianapolis, Indiana, January 1942

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

St. Paul, Minnesota, November 1937

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Tourist camp in winter, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 1937

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Image, Source: digital file from intermediary roll film

Signs, Kentland, Indiana, December 1937


Photos by John Vachon (Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recognize that Vachon mentally composed a vision of his pictures and edited down to a final “product” expressing that vision. Still, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that looks as universal (from the limited point of view of my experience and memory), casual and effortless.

TC said...

Curtis,

Vachon's files are incredible. Vast, sprawling, disorganized, abundant, wonderful. For a period of years he spends several extended "seasons" each year on the road, pretty much following his nose, seemingly shooting pictures as though it were a form of breathing. All this copious work is there; going through the thumbnails one by one, you can think with him, looking from different angles, "mentally composing" as you say. It's been intriguing, and exhausting, to attempt to pursue his trail. In fact, the way we've been living here of late, doing these posts I've felt almost at home... and in the same moment in flight.