Wehrmachtsoldaten in besneeuwd bos 1940 - 1945

This photo, of Wehrmacht soldiers in a snowy forest, captured by an anonymous photographer, is like a study in greyscale. Imagine the photographer, facing a line of soldiers trudging through the snow, the bare trees creating vertical lines in the background. I feel a kind of bleakness here, in the near-monochrome palette, the blank whiteness of the snow, the stark contrast of the dark figures of the soldiers. It reminds me of Gerhard Richter's photo paintings, in the way the image is slightly blurred and indistinct, lending it a kind of melancholy beauty. Look how the trees create this kind of graphic framework, almost like a stage set. The soldiers become almost spectral as they recede into the distance. You get this real feeling of the weight of history bearing down. It's as if the photographer were in conversation with other artists, not just about what to show, but how to show it.