New York, 2007, at Broadway and Fulton Street Possibly 2007 - 2014

Leo Rubinfien took this photograph in 2007 at Broadway and Fulton Street in New York. It’s a city scene in black and white and the subject is a man, a kind of Everyman, in his suit and tie. I think about what Rubinfien might have been thinking when he took this shot, what he was trying to get at. The man’s expression is what holds me. It’s like he's caught between two thoughts, maybe a bit anxious, a bit uncertain about what's to come. He appears to be mid-stride, not looking at the camera. What is he looking at? What has caught his attention? Rubinfien’s picture reminds me of the great street photographers like Garry Winogrand or Helen Levitt, who had an eye for the everyday dramas playing out on city streets. You know, capturing those fleeting, unscripted moments that reveal something deeper about human nature. It is a classic street scene, it could be anywhere in the world, yet it is absolutely New York.