This is another one of those pictures that I like without knowing exactly why. When I took it I remember that what impressed me was the movement of the skaters around the rink. Some were extremely graceful, others less so. I’ve never been on ice skates in my life and my occasional forays into roller skating have not been especially successful. So I have lots of admiration for anyone who’s able to stay upright for more than a couple of seconds. I think this picture captures a little of the “hurly burly” of the Rockefeller Center skating ring. I like a number of the details: the guy on the left who looks as if he’s standing only because he’s holding onto the rail; the woman to his right who looks terrified and is holding on out of sheer concentration; the man taking pictures; the woman next to him holding onto a pair of boots; another girl who looks as if she’s fallen forward but just managed to avoid hitting the ice by grabbing onto the rail; the man walking on the ice apparently without ice skates; the boy to the top left who looks so comfortable on his skates that he doesn’t even need to look down, instead looking up at the observers. If I didn’t know better I’d think he’d seen me taking the picture.

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