Less than a year after Kosti had his first photo featured on the cover of a Life issue, he was already suggesting ideas to Life’s photo editor Wilson Hicks. Hicks was the head of the photography department at Life magazine and remembered, “Kosti once said, ‘How about Life‘s doing a Maine winter essay?’… I told him O.K., and his idea went on from there… when we laid out the essay we found we’d like to go additional pages, the pictures were so good.” In the end it was a nine-page spread with an intro page and four sections with two photos each.

Winter in Maine was a powerful component of the photographer’s private mythology. It could be full of drama, grandeur, and the kind of hardship that bred flinty, wry, imperturbable characters. The assignment put him in his element, so to speak.