The Art of photography

RespondingtotheSubject:Love

WhenCaliforniaphotographerLouStou-

menagreedtotaketheassignmenthis

firstimpulsewastophotographcouples

inlove."Loversitis,"hereflected,and

wenttofindsomeinaSantaMonica

park.

But

nothingsatisfiedhim."Imade

someimages,"herecalled,"butnothing

thatsaidlove."

Undaunted,Stoumenmulledoverthe

projectsomemore."I'm astreetpho-

tographer,"heexplained,describingthe

workingtechniquehehasusedthrough-

out

his

career,"and

I

gooutinthestreet

andIspendhoursthere.I'mlikeafisher-

man.I
gotoabend

in

acreekwhereI

thinkthereoughttobeabigone."

OnStoumen'snexttripintothestreet,

whichtookhimonceagaintoapark,

heencounteredthreepeoplewalking
to-

gether."Iwasn'texpectingalittlegroup

likethat,"hesays."Theyweresending

outrealvibes
toeachother,casualand

easy,andhavingfun."

He

didnotlikethesettinginwhichhe

firstspottedthethreesome,sohefol-

lowed,keepinghis

distance,becausehe

feltthatthiswasasituationinwhichhis

subjectshadtobephotographedun-

aware.

Keepingthegroupinview,Stou-

mentookashortcuttogetaheadofthem

and

focusedonacrackinthesidewalk

whereheknewtheywouldpass."When

theyemergefrom

thetrees,"hethought,

"I'llseewhattheylooklike."

Asthepictureatrightshows,hechose

afortunatemoment.Heneverlearned

whohissubjectswere,but the

photo-

graph

hetookclearlyrevealstheclose

bondsofaffectionbetweenthem."The

thingthat

struckme,"admittedStoumen,

"wasthateachofthethreehadthesame

smile;their

lipswerepartedinjustthe

sameway.Loveisa greatbigwheelwith

manyspokes,many

kindsofgoodstuff.

ThisisnotthekindIwentoutafter—but

it'swhatIfound."