Kenny Shane, “Pipes”

This graphic image of pipes was taken by Kenny Shane, a building supervisor and member of SEIU Local 32BJ in New York City. It is included in Unseen America: Photos and Stories by Workers, edited by Esther Cohen (Regan Books, 2006). The image comes out of Mr. Shane’s participation in photography classes offered through Bread and Roses, a nonprofit cultural program of the labor union 1199. 

Note how the photographer composed his image, perhaps taken at his place of work, to evoke the beauty of the building infrastructure through the play of light and dark, shapes, lines, and movement.

Mr. Shane wrote: “Everybody has a creative side. It is just a question of giving them the tools to express themselves.”