Safe Harbor Dam, Pennsylvania, Verenigde Staten 1936

This silver gelatin print of the Safe Harbor Dam in Pennsylvania, made by Wouter Cool, captures not just a structure but a moment in time, a feeling of the industrial sublime. The blacks are deep and velvety, the whites almost luminous, creating a tonal range that pulls you into the scene. Cool’s eye focuses on the textures and the patterns of the dam's construction, all steel and concrete. I’m really drawn to the way the horizontal lines of the dam's body meet the vertical thrust of the towers. It's like a conversation, a push and pull between stability and aspiration. You can almost feel the weight of the water held back, the potential energy humming within the frame. It makes me think of Bernd and Hilla Becher, who also documented industrial structures with such rigor and beauty, finding a strange kind of poetry in the everyday. Ultimately, this photograph is a reminder that art can be found in the most unexpected places.