Starlight Roof at the Waldorf, New York City 1950

This black and white photograph, *Starlight Roof at the Waldorf, New York City,* was shot by Ruth Orkin at an unknown date. What I love about this image is the angle, a high-up view that makes the people look like pawns on a game board, arranged just so. It's all about geometry; the sharp lines of the building, the curve of the car, and then these human shapes, moving and still. The tonal range here is tight, almost everything is a mid-tone gray. Look how Orkin used this to flatten space, yet still create depth. The shadows are soft, but they ground the figures, give them weight. It's like a dance between abstraction and representation. There's a stillness to the shot, a kind of silent observation that reminds me of the work of Helen Levitt, another photographer who captured the poetry of everyday life in New York. The beauty of this image lies in its simplicity, its quiet observation of a moment in time. It's a reminder that art can be found in the most unexpected places, if you just know where to look.