Untitled (woman in hat and long dress seated on floor by fireplace under large portrait of girl) c. 1940

This photograph by Paul Gittings pictures a woman in a hat and long dress, seated on the floor with her dog by the fireplace, with a portrait of a girl hanging above. It’s mysterious. I love the interplay of the three subjects, the woman, the dog, and the portrait of the girl above the mantle. What might the woman have been thinking, sitting there on the floor by the fire with her dog? Was she happy, melancholic, lost in reverie? I imagine the photographer working slowly in the studio, moving lights around to create different effects. There is something about the placement of the subjects that feels experimental and staged. Photography, like painting, is about making something new. You don't know what you're going to get when you start out. Instead, you discover what it is through the making of it. All artists are in conversation, exchanging ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity.