Sunday Morning Chester c. 20th century

Karl Struss made this photograph, Sunday Morning Chester, using gelatin silver print. The tones in this image work like a memory; an impression of a time and place, a certain kind of light. The composition leads your eye on a kind of meandering journey up the path and into the distance. Struss emphasizes the texture of the grass in the foreground, those blades seem to dance with soft movement. They throw an interesting shadow too. The tree anchors the work, and its leaves are diffuse. It feels like he embraced the soft focus, using it to create a mood, almost like he was painting with light. It reminds me a bit of the earlier work of someone like Alfred Stieglitz, who was also interested in photography as a fine art. Both artists embraced ambiguity, recognizing that art is not just about capturing reality, but about creating an emotional experience.