Untitled (Playground) c. 1965

Louis Draper made this gelatin silver print, Untitled (Playground), and what strikes me is how he coaxes light out of the darkness. It's all about the process of seeing, of finding form where you least expect it. I love how the stark contrast in tone creates a sense of depth and mystery. The granular texture makes the surface feel almost tactile. The light glistens off the ground, and everything feels raw and immediate. My eye is drawn to the light reflecting in the puddle, a soft glow illuminating the dark and suggesting infinite possibilities. The lines of the hopscotch grid offer a sense of order and structure, but the photograph ultimately captures a moment of stillness and reflection. Like the work of Roy DeCarava, Draper’s photography suggests an awareness of the beauty in the everyday. It is an ongoing conversation about how to see and experience the world around us. It embraces ambiguity, and asks us to embrace multiple interpretations of a single image.