East Hampton, New York 1981

Elliott Erwitt took this black and white photograph, East Hampton, New York, and who knows what year it was. It’s all the same anyway. Look at these kids. I wonder about the moment that Erwitt chose to capture. The girl seems so much older than the boy, but maybe I’m projecting. It’s a birthday, and she’s got her hand on his head, like she owns him! What was Erwitt thinking as he raised his camera to his eye? I mean, it’s not like he’s staging the scene. He’s just catching a fleeting moment, a glimpse of childhood in all its tenderness and complexity. It's like when you’re painting and suddenly, without knowing how, something starts to happen. The painting takes on a life of its own, and you’re just along for the ride. Painters and photographers, we're all just trying to freeze time, make sense of the world, you know?