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Preface: Introduction to Every face in The Americans | Every Face In The Americans

Sometimes the patterns of light and dark are just right. iPhoto will find almost every face in a picture: Those five people sitting on a trolley, looking out at the photographer. Of course, there’s no way for the program to know it’s the southern USA in the 1950s and all the white people are supposed to be at the front; iPhoto sorts them in the order it found them; it abolishes segregation. Fifty years later, and no longer on the trolley but instead inside your computer, maybe these people can finally all sit where they want. Sometimes iPhoto fails miserably, or beautifully, or both, depending on your perspective. It looks at a photo of people at a funeral but the patterns of light and dark aren’t right. It sees none of actual faces, but invents a tiny ghost from shadows in a tree. Or it gets things partially right: It ignores the starlet, front and center in the picture. Instead it chooses a few anonymous, adoring fans in the background. It brings the periphery to the front, leaving us wondering what these women are looking at, why they’re so enthralled. We look harder at the edges, and think about what’s missing.