Lens Is More

Category: Kids

  • Unimpressed, Philadelphia

    C. Thompson
    Is that all there is?

    I’ve taken tens of thousands of frames and, almost without fail, I can remember everything, or almost everything, about each moment. There are some I can’t, however, and this is one of them. Close inspection will reveal there’s a police car in the street, with someone leaning into the driver’s window and a man approaching. An even closer inspection will reveal another man, seemingly naked from the waist up, reflected in the driver’s window of the car on which the girl is sitting. But above all we have a girl, in or approaching her teens, waiting for something else. (1984)

  • Bagpiper, New York

    C. Thompson
    There’s something about The Lament for the Earl of Dunmore.

    (1996)

  • Sea rescue, Atlantic Ocean*

    C. Thompson
    Low tide, full moon

    The skipper heard the call coming over marine radio and knew from his current position that he was probably the closest vessel to render aid. He radioed the USCG that he was en route, then did the mental checklist. He knew he’d been prepared for this event, should it occur, for years now. He had extra PFDs, foil thermal blankets for shock symptoms, an overfull first-aid kit, a floating light beacon, water and other provisions. There was just one thing he forgot. (1991)
    *A backyard in Delaware County, Pa.

  • Before the rain, Avalon, N.J.

    C. Thompson

    (2020)

  • Tiniest redwood, near Eureka, Calif.

    C. Thompson

    (1997)

  • Haircut, New York

    C. Thompson
    So helpless

    It was an Upper East Side barber shop, where little boys rolled up jeans cuffs and sat in Jeep chairs instead of on the plank that spanned a man’s barber chair when I was a little boy. If today I had the choice of looking back at a photo of myself in the old man’s plank seat or this one, I would go plank. I’m visible to them on the sidewalk outside the barber shop. I think the woman far right gets it. The woman to her right: not sure. The barber/stylist is either discussing the cut or is flagging my presence. But the boy, the boy is taking dead aim. Perhaps he knew. (1995 or 1996)

  • Shadows, West Chester, Pa.

    C. Thompson
    They grow so fast.

    (2019)

  • Skateboarders, Philadelphia

    C. Thompson

    (2004)

  • Kids in spring, Philadelphia

    C. Thompson
    IMG_20180520_0019
    Hold on tight.

    There’s a great photo by Robert Doisneau of little children about this age, Les Tabliers de la rue de Rivoli (1978), that came up the other day and reminded me of this one, taken six years later. His subjects were a different demographic. These little faces above are probably around 40 years old now. At least I hope they are. These days you never know. (1984)

  • Mother and daughter, Media, Pa.

    C. Thompson
    IMG_20180203_0029_NEW

    (1991)