"Champion," New York, New York 1949 - 1950

Louis Faurer captured this photograph in New York, we don’t know exactly when, and the beauty of the image lies in this ambiguity. Look how Faurer teases the viewer, playing with light and dark. The man, perhaps a boxer judging by the title, gazes upward, bathed in a soft glow amidst the chaotic energy of the city. His posture is one of quiet dignity, standing amidst the gleaming curves of parked cars and the blurred lights of Times Square. Faurer’s New York isn’t a postcard, it’s all about feeling, and I think he’s really doing something by blurring that line between the beautiful and the everyday. The graininess of the image feels like a caress. In the end, it's the emotional truth, the sense of solitude, that makes Faurer's work so compelling, reminding me a little of what I see in Garry Winogrand’s street photography. It’s a feeling, rather than a fact.