Untitled (mother with one-year old daughter and new birthday toys on lawn) c. 1955

This is a photograph by Paul Gittings, “Untitled (mother with one-year old daughter and new birthday toys on lawn).” The photo shows a young mother and child on a lawn, surrounded by toys; the image is reversed like a negative. The whole scene glows, casting a kind of otherworldly light, and everything looks a little strange, as if we are seeing the world through a looking glass. What was Gittings thinking when he captured this moment? Perhaps he was experimenting with the technology or the process of image-making? What is he trying to capture by showing us the reversed image? There’s something so beautiful about the negative, the reversal, like a metaphor for how we look back on the past, how memory shifts and changes over time. It reminds me of how artists throughout history have used photography as a tool for exploring light, shadow, and the passage of time. It's like Gittings is inviting us to slow down and really see the world anew, with all its strange beauty and possibilities.