Four women and a boy at a cake judging booth, 1956 — three generations laughing as the center woman hands a slice across the table to a blond kid in a white t-shirt, paper streamers hanging above, a lineup of layer cakes on display. Photographer Mickey Pallas had a gift for catching the exact moment when everyone forgets the camera, and this is one of those shots: the genuine pleasure on every face, the boy already leaning in before the plate arrives, the older women running the booth with the easy authority of people who have done this every summer for decades. Fotofolio issued it as part of their series of fine art photography postcards in the 1980s — a way of putting museum-quality American photography into circulation at postcard prices.

• Caption: Cake Testing, 1956
• Photographer: Mickey Pallas
• Publisher: Fotofolio, New York; courtesy Photofind Gallery, New York
• Card no.: A207
• Status: Unposted