From the day
Perspective: The Street Photographer · Tactile
The heavy humidity of this August afternoon clings to the wool waistcoats of the men passing by, their stiff celluloid collars already wilting under the Norfolk sun. I adjust my viewfinder, capturing a group of children huddled on the cobblestones over a worn board of Land’s Lord, their small fingers gripping the crude metal tokens with a desperate, tactile intensity. A newsboy down the block shouts of the excursion train’s plunge into the drawbridge, but the sound is nearly drowned out by a nearby phonograph trilling "In My Merry Oldsmobile." Gadzooks, the jaunty tune feels like a slap against the grit of the city's mourning, yet the polished brass of a passing motorcar shines with a bright, insensitive luster.