Beach Grass c. 1920

William E. Dassonville created this gelatin silver print, "Beach Grass," sometime in the earlier half of the 20th century. There's something about the way light hits the top of the grass that makes me think about process. It's like each silver particle is a tiny brushstroke, carefully placed to catch the glint of sunlight. You know, the material is doing the work for the artist. Looking closely, you can almost feel the grain of the sand and the texture of the grass. The silvery tones give it a dreamlike quality, like a memory fading at the edges. See how the light catches on the tips of the grass? It’s so delicate, so fleeting. This piece reminds me of Alfred Stieglitz's cloud studies. Both artists found a way to capture the beauty of ordinary, ephemeral things and elevate them to something extraordinary.