“My work begins with recording an image, but it is not finished until I have made a fine print. That is my photograph. A lot goes into a finished documentary photograph, a very personal view of life, a knowledge of technique and of course information. It is the information that grabs the viewer but it is the photographers’s art that holds them."
~ George Zimbel
It is a bar in New Orleans in the 1950’s. What is great about this image is that there are several layers of storytelling going on in a single frame and George creates a great period mood piece.
But it is the story of the woman at the bar that holds us and with his customary sense of empathy George allows us into her world and life. I find it deeply moving in the way I find Edward Hopper’s paintings deeply moving. We don’t and never will know her complete story but we are there with her, which makes the image so powerful. It’s a punch to the heart.