Boy in a Car, Chicago
While he was studying at the Institute of Design in Chicago, Sterling’s teachers included the famous photographers Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. Both had a strong preference for photographs with powerful contrasts of light and dark and an interplay of line and form - no matter where they found their subjects, including in the street. In this close-up shot we see how Sterling accentuated the forms of the car, the arm, and the cigarette with light.