Through his mother, he met Lisette Model who would come to be his photographic mentor. Not one to follow the trends of the time, Fink's work draws heavily on the European tradition of photography of Brassai and Kertesz and of the painters Georg Grosz and Otto Dix. Like these artists, Fink saught inspiration in public life, what he considered a grotesque and sensuous theatre of life. Consistent throughout all of his work is its central subject: the human body in action. Of all American post-World War II photographers, none were as devoted to the candid expressiveness of the human body as Fink. Like Weegee before him, Fink was an interactive photographer, a ready witness to the drama of everyday life. Always keen to infuse his photographs with social commentary, Fink would pursue socially and politically contentious imagery for the rest of his life, such as in the black ties series and the Martin's Creek series. He currently teaches photography at Bard College in New York where he has been teaching since 1994.