Untitled (older couple standing in arch in front of pine trees) c. 1940

This silver gelatin print by Paul Gittings pictures an older couple standing in an arch with pine trees in the background. Isn’t it interesting how black and white flattens everything, it makes you look and look again, and still you’re not quite sure. I imagine Gittings looking through the lens, thinking about light and shadow, about capturing a moment that feels both posed and intimate. What were they like, this couple? Did they notice the way the negative turns everything ghostly, or were they caught up in the occasion? What was the occasion, you wonder? The dark tones against the light creates a ghostly effect which makes you feel like you're looking at a memory or a dream. Photography, like painting, is an ongoing conversation, an exchange of seeing and feeling across time. Both embrace ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings, reflecting that the image is not simply a picture, but a moment.