Weeds in Snow 1943

Here's "Weeds in Snow" by Harry Callahan, a photograph; delicate lines drawn in monochrome. I imagine Callahan wandering out into a field after a snowfall, struck by the sight of these weeds pushing through the snow. You can feel how spare and stark the winter landscape is. It’s almost like he's sketching with light, isn't it? Callahan must have been thinking about line and form in an utterly reduced way. Like Agnes Martin, but in weeds. You can sense him framing the shot just so, finding the right angle to capture the fragile beauty of these weeds against the blank canvas of snow. There is a similar photo by Callahan; a lone house surrounded by telephone wires. The placement of the wires is like the weeds, scrawling, and interrupting a blank sky.