Lantern Heads

16x20 inch Black & White print on Epson Art Cotton Smooth 250 gram paper. From the NYC Village Halloween Parade, 1982–86.

Two intergalactic travelers share a quiet moment amidst the energetic crowd of the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in the mid-1980s. Their DIY costumes feature oversized, translucent lantern headpieces and white tunics that catch the direct light of a Norman 200B flash — illuminating the interior of each lantern to reveal the subjects' faces within. The sharp focus captures an intimate exchange: the figure on the left glances right while the person on the right looks left, their eyes meeting through narrow slits in their spherical masks. Captured on Tri-X film with a 35mm Pentax, the image documents a period when the parade was transitioning into a massive public event while still maintaining its neighborhood-born, handcrafted spirit.