White photographed numerous performances and moments of art making in New York. He took a series of photographs of this young woman playing a guitar in Washington Square Park, which he later used as source material for his painting Gospel Singers. Drips of red and green paint on the photograph and fingerprints on the back reveal White’s working process: as he painted, he actively referred to the image as a template for the physical features and posture of his subject. Personal photography like this linked White’s lived experience with his formal practice.