Hot Shot Eastbound, Iaeger, WV, 1956

This photograph shows a white couple cuddling in a convertible at a packed drive-in movie, while a steam train roars by in the background. At the moment the picture was taken, a jet appeared on screen, so the image captures cars, steam trains, and a jet in one photograph. One of O. Winston Link’s most well known images, this photograph captures much of what draws people to Link’s work. It is a technically complex image featuring a romanticized scene of 1950s southern culture, with some nostalgia for the dying technology of steam engines.