Portuguese Boys, Estoril, Portugal 1950

Gordon Parks captured these Portuguese Boys in Estoril, Portugal, in a photograph whose tones range from silvery highlights to almost velvety darks. Looking at these kids, I think about what it was like for Parks to frame this image. I imagine him walking around, maybe with a feeling of being a stranger in a strange land, and then he spots these boys in the crowd. I bet he wanted to capture their gaze! What were they looking at? What were *they* thinking? And then there's the beauty of the light, how it catches on their hats and clothes, making them almost glow against the busy background. And isn't that what we do as artists—try to make sense of the world, one gesture, one image at a time? Parks' work has inspired so many, and I love seeing how artists continue to build on each other's ideas. It's like we're all in this big, messy conversation, trying to figure things out together.