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The winter of 2013-14 may seem brutal, but as a kid in Bedford, Quebec (just a few miles north of Vermont), in the late 1950s, I loved winter. We played outside all day, summer and winter (no electronic distractions!), and this shot shows a bunch of us on a twelve-foot pushed-up snow pile on the laneway of a neighbour. Many snowball fights and slides ensued. This is circa 1957 and I'm the little guy in the front with the slippery plastic boots, great for traction (not!). View full size.
if you have any photos of Bedford, QC you would like to share, check out this Facebook page.
Those slides are a treasure! Were those the rubber boots that you had to put on over your shoes? Those were a MAJOR pain in the neck, for both kids and moms! Putting them on was a production and so was taking them off. Your feet usually came out of your shoes and then you had to struggle to pull the shoes out of the boots. It was worth it, if you stayed out for hours, but many kids would get cold and go back in after 15 minutes. I didn't realize what a drag that was for moms until my own kids started doing it!
I wish my family would have done slides, rather than color prints. The prints are in such bad shape now, that it looks like we were kids several hundred years ago, rather than 40-50 years ago!
Love this image, you all look right out of a scene from "Christmas Story"...
Who are the others--family, friends? I don't mean names but do you still know any of these children? Cool image.
I am so impressed with the dynamic range of Kodachrome, and the photographer who took the photo. It is rare to see snow exposed so that it is white with noticeable details, and yet still have the other subjects well lit and colorful. I have a professional $6000 full frame SLR camera and lens set that I would have to use either a double exposure/ Photoshop or HDR techniques to get this dynamic range. The quality of the photos is a pleasure as well as the story the faces tell.
Boy does this shot take me back! I was raised in Ottawa (Ontario not Kansas) at just about this same time. (I was 10 in 1957.) We were told to "go outside and play" any day we weren't in school! Digging snow forts out of snow banks, snowball fights, sliding on toboggans and sleds, skating at the elementary school rink, we always had activities to keep us occupied and lots of kids to do it with. I live in northern Vermont now and still love to play in the ice and snow, skating and skiing as often as possible. Thanks for the great memories!
I can see two caps that would have been great targets for snowballs.
They give is those nice bright colors. Hope to see more 50's Canadian Kodachrome shots, Islander.
[More in the Member Gallery. -tterrace]
What are you two hoodlums doing in Quebec?
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