New York 1987

Rosalind Solomon made this photograph, titled *New York*, in black and white. It plunges us right into an intimate encounter. There are bare feet on the earth, grounded, and the hand that holds the pumpkin. We don’t see the whole person, just fragments, close up. I imagine Solomon, camera in hand, maybe crouching low, becoming part of this scene. What does it mean to photograph in this way, to focus on these specific details? The composition crops the body to explore the relationship between the human and the land, hand, foot and earth, as if our bodies are a part of the earth. It is intimate and kind of vulnerable. Solomon might be reminding us of something essential, something we often overlook in our busy lives, our connection to the natural world and the beauty in simple acts of growth and harvest. Her vision inspires me.