Onbekende locatie in de Verenigde Staten: een trein die voorzien wordt van ijs voor de airconditioning 1936

Wouter Cool made this photograph, 'Unknown location in the United States: a train being supplied with ice for air conditioning', with an analogue camera. Imagine Cool composing the shot, waiting for the right play of light and shadow, the workers on the train roof caught in mid-action. There’s something so immediate about photography, it’s like a sketch but with light and reality. I wonder if Cool knew the names of those workers, if he talked to them. Maybe he was thinking about capturing a fleeting moment, one small part of the huge American machine, of logistics and labour that he encountered. Look at the texture of the train's surface against the bright white ice. There’s a softness to the light that makes you feel the heat, the coolness of the ice, the solid bulk of the train. It's a small gesture, a moment captured that lets us see the world a little differently.