Boston Subway Transit Employee Portrait Black And White | Limited Edition of 10

A Fleeting Human Exchange Beneath Boston Streets

I was walking through the Boston subway with my camera when I noticed this transit employee seated beside the fare machines. A passenger stood in the foreground with his back to me, while the employee looked toward him with an expression I knew would disappear almost immediately. I raised the camera and photographed it quickly.

That is what I have always loved about street photography. Sometimes there is no opportunity to arrange anything, reconsider the composition, or wait for better circumstances. The photograph exists for a fraction of a second and then it is gone. This image sits naturally within my black and white street photography because the entire frame depends on that brief relationship between two people who may never have realized they were creating a photograph together.

My eye keeps returning to the transit employee's eyes. His weathered face, beard, rolled sleeves, identification badge and loosely folded hands have a remarkable physical presence, but it is his sideways gaze that gives the photograph its tension. The passenger dominates much of the left side as a large dark silhouette, while the employee remains surrounded by ticket machines, metal surfaces, posted fare information, paperwork and the dense visual clutter of a working Boston subway station.

I have always been fascinated by Henri Cartier-Bresson's idea of the decisive moment. He is one of my favorite photographers from the old masters, and the concept has stayed with me throughout my own work. When I explore a city, I carry my camera constantly because photographs like this cannot be recreated later. The gesture, the glance and the relationship between the figures were there for an instant.

Black and white strips the scene down to expression, structure and light. The employee's pale shirt and face emerge from the darker machinery and foreground figure, while the stainless steel, signs and worn working environment give the photograph layers that become more apparent the longer I look.

I offer this photograph as a limited edition of only 10 prints. Each print is personally signed, accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, and produced with archival pigment inks on premium archival paper.

I see this working particularly well for collectors drawn to documentary photography, urban interiors, Boston imagery and photographs centered on ordinary people rather than landmarks. It has enough graphic strength to hold a wall from a distance, while the face, hands, signs and transit details reward a closer look.

That quiet, unplanned human exchange is exactly what keeps drawing me back to daily life photography.

© Dan Kosmayer, 2010