Beaumont Newhall 1975

Mike Mandel’s photo, 'Beaumont Newhall,' captures Newhall, the photography historian, holding a baseball chest protector. The starkness of the black and white image emphasizes form and texture. It’s about how light and shadow can reshape an image, making it feel graphic and immediate. Look at the way the light catches the protector, creating this abstract shape against Newhall's figure. It’s like Mandel is saying, "Hey, even the most familiar objects can become strange and new when we mess with perspective." It's also interesting to think of the chest protector as a shield, or emblem, maybe alluding to the protective role Newhall played as a guardian of photographic history. This reminds me a little of John Baldessari, another artist who plays with photography and text, questioning how we construct meaning through images. In the end, art’s all about opening up possibilities, not closing them down.