Accordion man

Accordion man. 2011.

There is nothing grand going on here, just a man on a plastic chair holding an old accordion together with his hands and his grin. He sits pressed up against the city, metal shutter to one side and stone wall to the other, turning a tight little space into a stage. I was drawn to the mix of things that do not quite match, the turquoise chair, polished shoes, patterned shirt, the instrument faded from years of use. His smile does most of the work, cutting through the hard surfaces and traffic noise. The picture is less about performance and more about a life spent meeting strangers one song at a time, a small act of joy holding its ground on the pavement.

85 mm • f/5.6 • 1/250 sec, ISO 250