Pellets from Shotgun 1959

Editor: This is Harold Edgerton's "Pellets from Shotgun." It’s a gelatin silver print, and it looks like it was made in 1959. It’s fascinating how he captured something so fleeting. What is your take on it? Curator: Edgerton's work brilliantly demonstrates the power of technology and labor in revealing unseen aspects of our world. It forces us to consider the means of production – how this image was made possible through specific processes and equipment. What is being consumed here? Editor: Well, the gunpowder is being consumed to fire the pellets. Curator: Exactly! The image aestheticizes the process of consumption and destruction. It asks us to consider our fascination with such power. What happens when we focus on the shotgun as an object? Editor: I see how the photograph captures the brief life of an industrial product. It really makes you think about how much we rely on these technologies. Curator: Indeed. It’s a record of a manufactured moment.