Carousel 1932

Ilse Bing made this photograph, Carousel, at an unknown date using gelatin silver. What grabs me here is the stark contrast of light and shadow, it’s not just about capturing a scene, it's about making a world. The monochrome palette simplifies everything, drawing attention to form and texture. I love the way the light catches the surfaces of those carousel animals, making them almost sculptural. That strong light creates these sharp, dark shadows that feel almost like characters themselves, lurking beneath the horses. The shadows ground the horses, but they also create this feeling of unease, a sense of something not quite right. They are still and yet the subject is about movement and time. Bing invites us to see the world in a way that’s both familiar and strange, stable and impermanent. Like André Kertész or László Moholy-Nagy, Bing experimented with perspective and form. It's like she is asking us to reconsider what we think we know about the everyday.