Istanbul, 2004, at Taksim Square Possibly 2004 - 2014

Leo Rubinfien made this gelatin silver print, Istanbul, 2004, at Taksim Square, and I’m thinking about what it would have been like to be there with him. It's a close shot of some men gathered together, and it feels like we are in the middle of it, maybe trying to listen to what they are talking about. I bet Rubinfien didn’t plan it, he probably just saw a gathering, then stepped right in there, and took the shot in a fraction of a second. Maybe he didn’t even look, but just pointed and hoped. The faces are all so serious, but the image is not too heavy, because you sense it’s not posed. It’s a lucky accident, and a split-second record of something very real.