All it took was a click of a button to capture a moment in time. The young eighteen-year-old had taken photographs of anything and everything imaginable. From the gentle embrace of two young lovers to a husband hitting his wife. He saw it all through his camera lens.

He was quick to find out whom the best people to take pictures of in the Bay Ridge Lodging House—the place he now lived—were. He found that Melanie was very photogenic; almost all the pictures he took of her turned out very well. Gertrude was another one that he liked taking pictures of but it was harder for him to photograph her since she hated getting her picture taken. Still, his favorite subject was his ten-year-old sister Grace who had been known as Little Bit after they became newsies.

She could be energetic or calm, shy or outgoing, peaceful or annoying, happy or sad. He believed children were the best to photograph. For the most part they weren't camera shy and they were always up to something.

He was never sure why he was so infatuated with taking photographs. He guessed it was a way to preserve his father's memory. He had been the one to introduce Sean to the world of photography and every time he took a picture he was reminded of his father.

He had been such a wonderful father to Sean, though he was violent when he drank. That was who Sean got his temper from when he was drunk no doubt. Everyone who knew him said that Micheal Powell was a great person though.

They would walk around the city for hours together while he showed Sean the best way to take pictures and the best things to take them of. Sean enjoyed taking photos of people while his father loved still life. Those walks had been some of his finest memories of his father.

He wished Grace had gotten to know him. He had been killed before she was even born. He was eight when it happened and that was the same time he had been pulled out of school to go work at a factory to bring home another pay check. Most the money he earned his mother would use to feed her alcohol addiction.

His father had always been around to keep his mother in line when she drank or when she was being disrespectful and so forth. Sean had only ever seen him hit her twice. The first had been when he was about to get hit and his father stepped in and the second was a few days before he died, he had slapped her across the face to stop her from screaming at him, he had taken a picture of that one and even after all these year he still had that picture.

Things only got worst when Grace was born but Sean still found time to use his father's old camera and to take pictures. It was his way to escape from everything that was going on his life. He always kept a little bit of his paycheck to get them developed. There were a few things though when he lived with his mother that he wished he hadn't taken pictures of.

He had once captured his mother beating Grace when the girl was four. Later, when his mother discovered the picture he was beaten. There had been other incidents like the first where a picture was taken and later found. Each time he was hit but as he got older he fought back and she eventually left him alone altogether. He couldn't say the same for his sister though.

He had bought himself a used camera after his mother died and after he took Grace to live in Harlem with him. Then, again he was back to taking pictures of anything that caught his eye. He was glad when they finally went to Brooklyn and found Bay Ridge.

He loved it there. There were so many people just in the house alone he could photograph and with so many people he no longer had to watch Grace all day. He loved her and had acted like a father to her for so long but he was glad to be able to have some time to himself to do what he wanted. Take pictures mostly.

His father had taught him the art of photography and his sister had given him something to capture on film. He looked at the world through his camera lens and he was beginning to like what he saw.