Ken Heyman – 1973 – Vintage gelatin silver print
The photograph from the Taking it to the Streets exhibit I chose is Men Checking out Mannequins on the Street by Ken Herman. The photograph depicts three business men walking past two naked mannequins, “checking them out”. The men and mannequins are in the foreground of the photo, in focus, while the city streets and skyline act as the background for this scene, in less focus. The middle man is pointing at the mannequins, getting the attention of the two men on either sides of him. The man on the far left is smiling or laughing at the mannequins while the other man is looking at the behinds of the women.
I chose this piece because I thought it was funny and was more lively/playful than some of the other shots without people. It made me wonder why there were these naked models on the sidewalk and if the photographer found them and just waited near them to capture the reactions of those walking past them.
“Taking It to the Streets: Street Photography from the LUAG Collection.” Taking It to the Streets: Street Photography from the LUAG Collection | Lehigh University Art Galleries, 1 Sept. 2020, luag.lehigh.edu/exhibitions/taking-it-streets-street-photography-luag-collection.
And they are so unaware of the photographer, it makes me wonder about the kind of lens he was using to capture them!