Visitors to Woodmere Art Museum’s new photography exhibition, In the Moment: The Art & Photography of Harvey Finkle, will not be able to trust their eyes. An image of a mother tossing her toddler in the air appears to be a beach scene. It’s not. A man shouldering a huge American flag seems to be sitting on a bench. He isn’t. Photographs that look as if they were taken in Kensington yesterday are actually from the 1990s. In all, these stunning black and white images showcase a 50-year career of social documentary photography that almost didn’t occur.

“I grew up at the end of the world,” said Finkle, referring to Oxford Circle in Northeast Philadelphia when it was bordered by farmland. Born in 1934 into a working class Jewish family, Finkle never had the luxury of considering photography as a profession. After serving two years in the Army and graduating from Temple University, he got a job as a case worker for the City’s Welfare Department.

Finkle first picked up a camera in his mid-30s in 1968 to record the birth of his first child. Yet, as a social worker and an activist deeply concerned by the poverty and injustice he witnessed every day, he began carrying a small Leica CL camera everywhere he went. It’s a quiet camera that could focus quickly. Finkle could walk into crowds of people or enter their homes and take pictures largely unnoticed.

Another social worker may have been denied access, but Finkle’s warm personality opened every door. “He’s the sweetest guy in the world, exceedingly patient and thoughtful,” said Antongiulio Sorgini, guest curator of the exhibition. “Harvey earned the trust of the people he photographed, going to their tent cities with blessings from the group. His images have a slow fuse to them, revealing more information the longer you look at them,” explained Sorgini “For instance, it takes a while to actually see a homeless person sleeping under a cardboard box.”

Mastering the art of photography didn’t happen overnight. “I don’t think I took a print I liked for three years,” Finkle said. To hone his craft, Finkle joined a photography critique group in West Philadelphia. However, it was seeing a photo exhibition of Harry Callahan at the Museum of Modern Art in 1962 that ignited Finkle’s passion for black and white photography at a time when colorful Kodachrome film reigned supreme.

Callahan, like Finkle, was self-taught. Also like Finkle, he had a day job. Callahan worked as an engineer for Chrysler before devoting himself exclusively to photography. However, in Finkle’s case, his career as a social worker, along with his lifelong advocacy for social justice, became the subject of his photography.

Aside from taking photos, Finkle was fascinated by the process of developing film and seeing an image come to life, a phenomenon mostly unknown in today’s digital world. “I rarely cropped,” he said, referring to manipulating the original image. I don’t think there is one photo in the Woodmere exhibition that is cropped.”

Finkle was personally involved in almost every social justice movement that evolved in Philly, from the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) and American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) to Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) and Project HOME. If there was a protest, Finkle was there. And so was his camera.

In 1958, Finkle moved his family to Bella Vista. “I liked to walk the streets and shoot in the streets,” he said. Meanwhile, Finkle became involved with a grassroots association called the People’s Fund, which was founded in 1971 by a group of activists seeking to spur liberal social change by funding organizations like the National Lawyers Guild and Women United for Abortion Rights.

Finkle went on to earn his masters degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania, where he later established a curriculum around the aging and the elderly. He also became an activist for the deaf community following the birth of his two children, who are both deaf.

In 1972, he transitioned to photography full time. “I shot for organizations I knew. Labor unions, social agencies, nonprofits, hospital publications, and the occasional wedding,” he said. “When digital came out, everything became immediate. Even the social change groups wanted the photos fast. So, I would take two cameras with me, one for film and one digital.”

Finkle has published numerous books of his photographs, including Urban Nomads, Still Home: Jews of South Philadelphia, Reading, Independent Living: The People Behind the Movement, Mothers, Under One Sky, and Readers. His work in the late 1980s focused on the new wave of immigrant and refugee families who have settled here and as well as the transgender movement.

Finkle put down his camera in 2019 when he began to lose his vision. However, at 90, he is still involved actively in exhibitions that document his involvement with social justice. He is known for his generosity, donating his photographs to the organizations he documented and, now, donating this entire exhibition to Woodmere Art Museum.

Interestingly, the one photo in the exhibition unrelated to social concerns is Finkle’s’ Homage to Thomas Eakins. It shows a lone rower on the Schuylkill River enshrouded by fog. It has a quality of romanticism not found in any of his other images.. “I was driving by Strawberry Mansion Bridge. I started taking photos of the bridge and the boat appeared,” he said. “It’s not always planned.”

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In the Moment: The Art & Photography of Harvey Finkle is on view now at the Woodmere Art Museum until January 5.

The museum is also featuring another exhibition, The Photo Review: Best of Show 2024. An opening reception to celebrate both exhibitions will be held Saturday, September 14 from 1-4 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

On Saturday, October 19, from 2-3:30 p.m., there will be a discussion of Harvey Finkle’s photography. The panel will be moderated by curator Antongiulio Sorgini with commentary by Andrew Mendelson, former chair of Klein College of Communication and Media at Temple University and a professor at Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, Cheri Honkala, co-founder of Kensington Welfare Rights Group, and Philly street photographer Zoe Strauss. Registration for the event is required.

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