Call Building aan Market Street in San Francisco tijdens een brand na de aardbeving van 1906 1906

W.J. Street captured this image of the Call Building on Market Street in San Francisco engulfed in flames following the 1906 earthquake. The tones are all muted, like a memory fading, but the devastation is as clear as day. Look at the smoke billowing from the building's crown; it’s almost sculptural, an awful monument to disaster. I think about the immediacy required to take this shot—the heat, the fear, the air thick with ash. Photography, at its heart, is about capturing light and shadow. And here, Street has used light to emphasize the stark reality of the scene. The texture of the smoke is almost palpable, a dark contrast to the architectural detail of the building itself, a testament to both human ambition and nature's destructive power. It reminds me of Hiroshi Sugimoto's minimalist seascapes, both capturing something elemental and vast. This photo is not just a historical document; it’s a meditation on impermanence.