Cori Kim
Harold Corsini, "Playing Football"
1935, gelatin silver print
This monochrome, aerial image of football players in Harlem, NY was taken by Italian photographer, Harold Corsini when he was just 16 years old. It's archived in the George Eastman Collection in Rochester, NY. When I saw this image in The Radical Camera I stopped. What first got me was the size juxtaposition of the small people and the larger-than-life shadows, because of this I concluded that they were children (perhaps, I'm not sure) and it made me think about being 10 years old, playing in the streets at twilight, about being young and rushing to be as big as those shadows. Somehow it gave me a sad nostalgic feeling, like here are these kids caught in a meaningless moment, one of millions of others and here I am 70 years later getting all emotional. It makes me wonder where those kids are now, did they ever get big, do they still like football? Aside from the instilled emotions, the image grabs me compositionally as well, I love everyone's movement, captured by a fast shutter speed, also how their shadows nearly line up with the white line. The composition and spacing is pleasing, I also feel that the visual wouldn't have worked as well if not an aerial. The whole thing is just really fun and a little grimy, but it a good way.
