Most mornings on the Styles desk, a small group of editors meets to look through dozens of photos that have been filed for upcoming stories. Whether looking at distinctive going-out clothing or cover portraits, we revel in the individuality of each person in the frame. Sometimes, it’s not so much the singularity of the image that gets our attention but rather the universality. Up the center of the image they stack, head over head, like the stills from an Eadweard Muybridge film sequence, collapsed and viewed from the front. Some hold clamshells of their takeout lunch; a few look directly at the camera, not entirely without suspicion; a sixth man has escaped the frame and blurs off to the left.

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