Dunes at Oceano  1936

This is Edward Weston’s photograph of the Dunes at Oceano. He made it with his camera, sometime between the wars. Look how he plays with light and shadow. What gets me about this photo is how Weston turns sand into something almost painterly. It's like he's sculpting with light, revealing the tactile qualities of the dunes. The texture, those rhythmic lines carved by the wind, make you want to reach out and touch it. See that one dune in the foreground? The way the light rakes across it, creating these deep, almost sculptural furrows, it reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s paintings, where he drags paint across the canvas to create these mesmerizing surfaces. Weston's work, like Richter’s, isn't just about what you see, but how you see it. It’s about the process, the act of looking, and the endless possibilities of interpretation.