That Look, That Question

This is a version of a photograph I took back in 1966. It wasn’t a particularly good photograph from a technical perspective when I took it, and it hasn’t improved with time. It is out of focus, indifferently composed, and of marginal interest as a subject. I can neither remember where exactly in Halifax it was taken or who the two men in the photograph were.  When I flick through my negative archives, however, it always seems to jump out at me, demanding attention. It is, of course, that look; that unspoken question which is familiar to all photographers: “Why are you taking a photograph of me?”