Young Man, Troupers' Hall, Hollywood 1969

Anthony Friedkin made this photograph, "Young Man, Troupers' Hall, Hollywood," and it's all about the grays, the blacks, the whites – a study in how much feeling you can squeeze from a monochrome palette. The lack of colour puts the emphasis on other things. It makes you work a little harder, somehow. The texture is smooth, almost velvety. It's like Friedkin is saying, "Look closely." Notice how the light catches the young man’s ring and belt buckle. It’s not just about surface; it's about depth, about what’s hidden and revealed. The shadow on the wall tells us something about the light source and the space. Look at the way his fingers grip the wall – there’s tension there, and a kind of vulnerability. Friedkin’s work reminds me a little of Robert Mapplethorpe’s portraits – that same attention to detail, that same sense of capturing a moment that's both intimate and staged. Art's an ongoing dialogue, isn’t it? A way of seeing that keeps evolving.