Boys play in bombed-out buildings in the working-class district of Favoriten, Vienna, Austria 1948

This photograph was taken in Vienna, Austria, by David Seymour, and though undated, it captures boys playing amongst bombed-out buildings. There’s a starkness to the black and white that feels unadorned, like the ruins themselves. Seymour's photograph is full of texture; the crumbled brickwork, the rough ground. Up close, there’s a particular intensity in the chipped brick outlining the doorway on the left. It frames nothing, but acts as a ghostly reminder of a former life. The boys, caught in a moment of play, become a stark contrast to the devastation around them. Their presence is both hopeful and heartbreaking. Seymour, like many photographers of his era, used the camera as a tool for witnessing and documenting, a practice akin to the approach taken by photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson, but with a raw and immediate emotional resonance. It leaves you with a sense of lingering questions, rather than answers.