From the Sequence "San Giacomo" 1986

This black and white photograph is part of Dieter Appelt's "San Giacomo" series, and it's got me thinking about how artists use repetition to explore an idea. There's this ring, see, hanging in front of what looks like some kind of reflective surface with streaks and droplets. Appelt is using the camera to capture light, shadow, and form – like a painter using brushstrokes. I wonder if he was thinking about circles – cycles – life! You can feel him working through something here, playing with perception. Maybe he took these photographs over and over again. It makes me think about the photographers who came before, and the ones still to come, all pointing their cameras at the world, trying to capture something essential, something true, over and over again.