I found this young man standing by the security grate in front of a pawn shop. The juxtaposition of the bars and the boy made a symbolic statement.
He seemed very quizzical. He asked me questions about my camera and what I was doing. While photographing in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood during the 1970s, I was constantly amazed at the number of young children roaming the streets without parents. To the casual observer the streets of that era seemed to be filled with danger, but the kids seemed to survive somehow. As Nietzsche said, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
