New Year's Eve Party, American Legion, Bangor, Pennsylvania 1979

Larry Fink made this photograph, New Year's Eve Party, at the American Legion in Bangor, Pennsylvania. I'm curious about why Fink chose to take this photograph. What made him stop, raise the camera, and click? There's something about the combination of the two men's faces, their hats, their clothes, and the wood-paneled wall that just seems to give off this vibe of loneliness, even in a crowd. I can imagine him positioning the camera just so to capture the light, the texture of the clothing, the little details that tell a story. Did the men know they were being photographed? What did they think of Fink? Did he talk to them afterward? Photographs like this one remind me that art is all about people looking at other people, trying to understand them, and finding something beautiful, or maybe just something real, in the process. It's a conversation across time, a way of connecting with each other, even when we feel like we're all alone in the world.