Light on Lead Street 1968

This photograph, Light on Lead Street, was made by Eve Sonneman, we don't know exactly when, but likely sometime after she began making photographs in the 1960s. Look at how Sonneman uses a muted palette of black and white. The composition is divided into two scenes by the trunks of trees. On the left a woman is walking, on the right a dog stands guard. Light and shadow fall across the image. Sonneman is interested in a kind of poetic fragmentation here, and how we can use photography to show a passing moment, the fall of light. The texture of the image is smooth, the surface glossy. The grainy tonality of the black and white adds to the drama of the shot, heightening the contrast between light and shadow. You can almost feel the heat of the sun and the coolness of the shade. It reminds me a little of Cartier-Bresson, but more surreal. It celebrates the art of seeing, and how a photo can be a painting.