History Captured

With the temperature projecting to dip between a steady 31 and 29 degrees, along with an 86% chance of wintry precipitation coming up on Thursday, January 9, 2025 and staying much the same on Friday (34-32 with 50 %,) then finally levelling off on Saturday with a high of 39 degrees and only a 24% chance of any other wetness...you will find all of us in north Louisiana bracing for "it." We can readily put up with the heat and humidity and the bugs, but none of us like the cold, the ice, or the snow much at all.

So, I thought this reflection of the coldest day ever recorded should be noted. The one and only true blizzard of our state which wreaked havoc to shipping from the Mississippi River for two weeks, and killing cattle and fruit trees.

Also to note, the importance of the Louisiana photographer who captured the silvery lines of ice on the frozen Mississippi and the sheer life-force found in each of those eight people in his timeless photograph.

I was enraptured by the character they each projected. I wanted to get to know them and their stories. My imagination went wild. This told me that Olide Paul Schexnayder had most assuredly earned his right to be showcased among Louisiana State Museums' Visual Arts Collection. (https://louisianastatemuseum.org/collections-olide-p-schexnayder)

He has many other "true life" photos that tell compelling stories in his collection. I hope you will take the time to browse them.

Interesting to note was the fact that he gave up his career as a photographer and became an optician. He corrected vision in both fields, I would say. What an artist!

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References:

https://louisianastatemuseum.org/collections-olide-p-schexnayder

https://www.nola.com/archive/you-think-its-cold-now-in-1899-the-mississippi-river-froze-over/article_c502d458-cc64-5ab2-808b-8aedceb1e754.html

https://64parishes.org/land-of-the-defunct-orange-tree-and-ice-burdened-palmetto

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schexnayder

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22657948/olide_paul-schexnayder