Exhibitions: Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition

Paul Kopelow. The Flatbush Avenue Project, 1974. All rights reserved

Artist Statement

In 1974 I decided to get back to my artistic roots by photographing the momentum of life on a Brooklyn street. Armed with my Hasselblad and fine grained film I stayed on one historic street Flatbush Avenue.Over a year of Friday afternoons I produced a portfolio of forty photographs. The changes of traffic and faces made streets that looked ordinary one day,look wonderful the next. Attached is the first photograph of the first day, a photo of the iconic everyman photographically frozen by the flash of sunlight off a bus. A witness to the past and the future

25 Comments

Absolutely stunning.

Fantastic capture, love it !!

brilliant, excellent set up. Great composition. Lovely contrast and very powerful.

artistic

wow

An absolutely stunning capture.

although the photo is 30 years old, it's linear composition and neon lights give a space age feel, while the figure of the man is timeless and a man outside of his time-- really a sharp, crisp yet whimsical image- shows the past/present/future of brooklyn

Though a still, this photo shows great movement and flow

This is my favorite photo so far. I love it!

Might be more interesting if even you could make out the name of even one establishment. Dynamic shot.

The photograph is moving quickly. Just as fast as Brooklyn is changing. If you blink you will miss it.

beautiful -- a "real" photo!

It is aesthetically pleasing, but I'm not sure how it fits the theme...

timeless capsule of brooklyn noir

This is a very cool image. It is as though the constantly flowing and changing spirit energy of Brooklyn is shown in action around the man.

This is aesthetically one of my favorite images so far. The composition is really excellent, and the subject matter really seems to show Brooklyn of 1940-1980, with the art deco theater, the 1940's-looking clothing, to the neon and the speeding bus. Very nice capture.

Technique? Very interesting image.

Interesting to have a historical take on the "changing face": the ever-changing face, I guess. Beautiful image! (I kind of wish you'd named the stunning setting.

The quality of composition, play of light and dark and sophisticated artistry is rare. Although it is technically superb, It's genius is it'sillustrative quality. It's 1 photo that somehow expresses a time, a novel, a full film. Amazing. — Posted by Greg :)

This is a classic. — Posted by Donna Zolla

Kopelow's sense of timing, composition, and atmosphere tell a story in a singular moment. Historically relevant; aesthetically appropriate... — Posted by Brian Merlis

The Third Man — Posted by Louise

amazing! — Posted by anonymous

the flash of a sunlight definitely that is the way that the people used while taking photographs I guess well focused and concentrated on the picture to capture — Posted by sinan turkey:)

Great subject matter. The lines and curves play well against the movement in the background. Overall great photo. — Posted by anonymous