Garry Winogrand caught this young woman's graceful gesture and unflinching gaze as he photographed her at a public gathering in Central Park. It looks as if she is performing for the camera, but she may be flying a kite.

Winogrand was fully aware that his own gaze was a male one. He liked to trace the origins of his intense interest in photographing women to his teen years, when he worked briefly as a walk-on actor at the ballet. Later, he often found that a certain amount of flirtation was involved when taking pictures of women. Winogrand produced a book of his photographs of anonymous women, including this image, in 1975. He planned to title the book "Confessions of a Male Chauvinist Pig," but his publisher changed it to Women are Beautiful.

Despite his joking provocations, Winogrand's intentions were serious. He said of the women he observed, "I suspect that I respond to their energies, how they stand and move their bodies and faces."