Wilmington, Delaware, 1965

John Szarkowski, in his afterword to the third edition of Friedlander's Self Portrait, comments '...perhaps it would be more useful not to think of these pictures as portraits at all, but as landscapes, of a variety that Friedlander was perhaps the first to call -- in an experimental, provisional way, in the mid-sixties -- social landscapes...the shadow of [his full figure] and the reflection of it hopelessly mixed on and behind the store window or some other thick or thin slice or suggestion of him should perhaps not be regarded as a description of his true character, or his person, but simply an identifying mark...that indicates that he, Friedlander, a reliable witness (like Kilroy) was there, and testifies to the precise, objective accuracy of the report he is giving us.'