1946: Trick mirror photographs people popping zits, picking noses

For this assignment photographer Yale Joel set up a trick mirror in Times Square Theatre in 1946. It looked like an ordinary mirror to members of the public, but Joel was able to photograph those people through the glass. He captured a section of the New York community at their most informal, attending to items of personal grooming. Adjusting hats, stockings and hair, inspecting zits, teeth and noses.

Joel excelled at assignments that involved special effects, unusual equipment and carefully staged situations. His photography was described as "imaginative with a whimsical flair for humor" and he developed a reputation as the "photographer of the impossible." Read more...

More about Photography, Features, Humor, History, and Pranks