Kensington, Pa 

1979 - 1980
This series is similar in content to Londoners, the series that preceded it, but these photographs are mostly taken outdoors and the scale of the prints is significantly smaller. At the time, these changes felt like a huge transition, both aesthetically and technically. I was no longer asking someone if I could take their picture, which is a very different experience from having a person’s consent. I started to see street life as dance and my familiar view of what was background became my new subject.

I used Graflex cameras which have waist level viewfinders. I chose them because people were less aware I was photographing than if I had a small camera held up to my face. This was before cell phones existed. Graflex negatives were large enough to contact print which allowed me to make 4 x 5” and 3 ¼ x 4 1/4” platinum and palladium prints. There was a delicacy in the prints that contrasted with the grittiness of the streets.