This photograph is as much about the weather as it is about the glow of the neon letters on the other side of Broadway. This was taken in January, during the magically snowy winter of 2011. This was the second or third in a series of snowstorms that eventually brought Columbia to a new record snowfall total for the season. These same snowstorms made downtown Columbia a wonderfully transformed environment for night photography, and I recall several outings during these storms for the purpose of photographing a very cold and snowy Columbia. This image was made on the 900 East block of Broadway, right across the street from where the KOPN studios were at the time. I had seen this view of Broadway many times and was convinced that this was something that needed to be documented. I took several photos of this scene before a woman walked by, dressed for the weather and wearing a very warm-looking winter hat. Had she not walked through the image, this would simply be a very documentary style photograph of the north side of the 900 block of East Broadway at night…her passage added the poetry that my initial images were lacking. The KOPN studio is now located in its new location on the west side of town, and they have taken their big, red, neon letters with them.