Welcome to Shutter Notes, our weekly community feature. Shutter Notes gives you the chance to get to know our community members a bit better. Each member will share a little bit about themselves and an image they’ve chosen.

Carl Kissin is an improv comic and musical theater lyricist. He has performed 4,000 shows for Chicago City Limits. Carl has been taking photos and posting them on Facebook and Instagram for the last decade. He started with comic photos and lately does a mix of images he considers beautiful or compelling, along with the occasional humorous capture.

This image Carl is sharing with us was created in Central Park using his iPhone 12.

Carl Kissin

Why and how Carl created this image

Carl said he often feels like the man walking in this photo. Alone, late at night regardless of the weather. One of his photographer friends said it reminded them of the photographer Andre Kertesz. Carl looks for images to create that evoke emotion, whether it be sadness, humor or awe at the beauty of nature.

In this unedited shot, Carl learned that he enjoys projecting thoughts onto a person he does not know. He learned to appreciate photos that come close to being black and white due to snow and darkness. He would like the viewer to wonder where that person is going and what they are thinking. He wants them to see the challenge and beauty of a snow-covered landscape.

Please join us in the Photofocus Community and find the complete description and instructions on how to submit your image for consideration here.

Please only submit one image at a time and for now only one submission per person. We’ll ask for more at a later date if we need them. If you have any questions, comment here or send me a message within the community. We look forward to your submissions.

If you have any photographer friends you know would enjoy or benefit from being in the Photofocus Community, be sure to invite them!