From the day
Perspective: The Street Photographer · Sound
The neon glow of a Pac-Man cabinet spills onto the sidewalk, competing with the static hum of a transistor radio playing "Lady" by Kenny Rogers. I frame a shot of a girl with a permed mane and massive velvet shoulder pads; her sequins catch the flash like a signal flare in this gritty, autumn air. She looks fly, but there’s a flicker of dread in her eyes when the news mentions Reagan winning the presidency amid all this Cold War anxiety. It’s a bad kind of tension gripping the city, a sharp contrast to the kids on the corner obsessively twisting their Rubik’s Cubes as if solving them could stop the clock.