Among the Sky-Scrapers, Stella, Nebraska — Nº 2

For his second plate documenting the village of Stella, photographer C. E. Yocam supplied a self consciously grand title identifying the view as Among the Sky-Scrapers. The tallest visible structure is in fact a telephone pole, confirming the caption as an instance of affectionate local humor. Yocam’s composition conveys not an outsider’s condescension but a community's capacity for self aware irony. It preserves the quiet posture of provincial life, from the men arranged along the sidewalk to the dentist's shingle and the sign for dry goods and millinery.