Allentown Fair, Pennsylvania 1979

Larry Fink made this silver print, "Allentown Fair, Pennsylvania," sometime in the last century. Look at the way the light flares, catching the edges of things in the dark. It’s like he’s painting with light, grabbing moments out of the chaos of the fair. I wonder what it was like for Fink, wandering around with his camera? He’s got this way of finding the poignant in the everyday, the weird beauty in these crowded scenes. It reminds me a bit of Diane Arbus, that knack for finding the extraordinary in ordinary life. That kid on the train, staring right at the camera, makes me smile. The way he looks at the camera, is he bored or bemused? Fink has this way of making you feel like you're right there, part of the scene. It’s a simple snapshot, but there's so much going on. He takes a genre scene, so that's already been established, but makes it his own by getting up close and personal.