Father and Child

A member of the Photo League, the New York–based,
left-leaning organization that championed both photography and the working man,
Louis Bernstein used his camera as a tool to illuminate life in his
neighborhood in Brooklyn. He noted, “There’s as much variety in my own back
yard as there is in a thousand miles of travel.” In this visually off-kilter
picture, a father and son lie in the sand of Coney Island, unaware of Bernstein
photographing them from above. For more than 40 years, Bernstein captured the
weekenders soaking in the sun at this beachside getaway. “It’s the
photographer, not the material, that wears out first,” Bernstein claimed.