In Memory Of Santi -School Yard Newark N.J. circa 1991

new jersey has many such blighted schools, Meir; too many; many of which i've seen in reality; i lived in Newark a very long time ago. this hard portrayal captures the deprivation as profoundly as any i've seen in the media. dp

Thank you for commenting and for straightening out my mind. This photo was taken in Newark, not Trenton. Long time ago. I forget things. I did my first show at the Paul Robeson Gallery -Rutgers- In Newark which is why I was in that area that day. I corrected the photo title.

There is a sense of bleakness in this photo. The empty foreground goes against many a rule of composition but I think it works here to brig out the atmosphere. I'm not sure if the children in the group to the left are fighting; if so, then it adds to the photo. I am not sure about the grey patch in the sky; it is too indistinct for a cloud. Then there is a similar bit to the left. What happened there?

This image reminds me of the pain and suffering my 3 cousins experienced  when they arrived in N. J. in 1960, and the B/W issue was at the peak of the conflict. Your  images are historical documents that always brings out raw emotion. Warm regards from hot Miami. 

Best regards Meir!

PDE

I don't see an empty forground. What happened with the sky? Can't say. Maybe those 'places' are breaks in the cloud cover or darker areas in the cloud cover. Maybe better to have dodged them out but the print was made a long time ago and the negative is in storage, never to see the light of day again.

the sky looks sufficiently bleak and polluted to me, Meir... Robeson Gallery exhibits were always interesting when i taught writing and literature at Rutgers-Newark many years ago.  the campus is a little oasis in a tough city ;-} dp

I did some "fixing" on the sky but did not do a very good job.

I think this appears better; the cloud seemed like a blob on the sky...I think it had an odd shape. Thanks for considering my point of view.

I do not know who Santi was. Probably a boy who attened that school but your guess is as good as mine.

Yes, a beautiful gallery. I cannot remember the Director's name. Attaching a photo I shot at the opening. Robeson was my first 'solo' show (didn't do that many). The boy  was just learning to play chess (father said) which explains his interest in the photograph. The photo on the wall was taken at 42nd Street and Broadway in Manhattan...chess hustlers used to congregate. I once saw a Russian Grandmaster playing there.