Untitled (full length portrait of two bridesmaids looking at bride, all carry roses) after 1940

This black and white photograph of a bride and bridesmaids carrying roses was captured by Paul Gittings, though we don't know when exactly. I’m thinking about how Gittings might have felt behind the camera, coaxing these women into position, trying to capture something ephemeral. Photography, like painting, attempts to freeze a moment, to make it forever, even though forever is never really possible. The image is soft, the details slightly blurred. It's not about sharp clarity, but something more atmospheric, emotional. Look at the way the light catches the folds of the bride's veil, how it creates this ethereal, almost ghostly effect. The faces of the bridal party are like flowers themselves, each turned differently in the composition. There's a dialogue between them, a kind of mirroring. It reminds me how the making and seeing of art is always a conversation, both among ourselves, and with the images themselves. Nothing is ever fixed, and there's always space for something new to emerge.