Girl in a Shiny Dress 1967

In this photograph, Diane Arbus captured a girl in a shiny dress, probably with her twin lens reflex camera. Imagine Arbus, lurking in the shadows, waiting for that perfect moment. She's not just snapping a picture; she's excavating a feeling. The dress is doing its thing, shimmering, catching the light, while the girl stands with a dark void behind. What does Arbus want to capture? She reminds me of Weegee, who was also chasing something real and raw. Arbus and Weegee both remind me that photography can get at something that painting sometimes misses—a kind of awkward truth. Arbus wasn't interested in perfection; she wanted to find the beauty in what others might overlook or dismiss. And for her, that girl in the shiny dress was perfect.