The Merrival Family's Buffalo Ranch Possibly 1984 - 2004

John Willis shot "The Merrival Family's Buffalo Ranch", and the grey scale makes me think about how he’s focusing on the way the light moves, sort of dissolving the forms. It's like the way we see, never quite complete. The mist is so thick, it’s a kind of material itself, right? The dark, blurry shapes of the buffalo look like they're emerging from the fog, maybe like an early photograph developing. I wonder if he was thinking about that, the origins of photography, capturing something wild and fleeting. Look at how the lead buffalo’s fur is so clearly defined, wet and matted. It grounds the image, almost like a brushstroke, pulling the eye forward. Willis invites us to see the world in layers, blurred and sharp at once, and reminds me a bit of Hiroshi Sugimoto's ethereal seascapes. The image isn't trying to say anything definitive; it's more like a feeling, an echo of a moment.