Eugene Richards's best shot
'I had to work fast - it was 30 below zero and the floor was collapsing'
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I'm not a religious person, but I find abandoned houses more spiritual than churches. Maybe it's because they're very quiet. When you're inside, all you can hear is the wind blowing.
This particular photograph was made in Corinth, North Dakota. The guidebook says the town once had 300 people, which is debatable, but now it's just raw wood structures and a very elderly couple called Melvyn and Maureen Wisdahl. Their house stands out because it has paint on it.
On a snowy day three years ago, with the temperature about 30 degrees below zero, I was wandering around the town and I went into this general store, which had probably been abandoned for 30 years. You could just push your way into these places, which were all full of trash and broken windows. In the back I found this door, opened it, and inside was a bedroom.
I'm not sure what went through my head, but I just thought the bed was very beautiful. I had to work fast, because after a while in that cold you can't move. The only other issue I had was trying not to go through the floor, which was almost collapsing. In North Dakota they have these deep basements, and if you went through, and you were alone in 30 below zero then, without wanting to be melodramatic, that would probably be the end.
A couple of weeks later, I went back to see the Wisdahls. They are an exceedingly educated couple who drag you inside and feed you all these Swedish cookies until you burst. Then, as I was leaving, I mentioned this bed I'd seen covered with snow. Maureen said: "That was my mom's bed." There was no irony; she just said it very casually. I think she may have been born in that bed. I know her mother certainly died in it.
• The Blue Room by Eugene Richards is published by Phaidon
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