The Art of photography

(Steven Felgate) #1
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."
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