Arbus’s children rarely look like children. Here an adolescent girlfriend and boyfriend look more like a middle-aged couple. The boy’s arm rests on his girlfriend’s shoulder seemingly with a familiarity built over years, their clothing seems oddly formal, and they appear serious – perhaps even worried. The caption reveals that this was taken on Hudson Street, so the couple probably grew up in this area. Many immigrants had settled there after the Second World War and at the time it was a disadvantaged area of the city. Arbus’s stark portrait of these child-adults makes you wonder whether difficult circumstances have forced them to become adults before their time.