From Back Window, 133 West 22nd Street, New York 1965

David Vestal made this photograph, *From Back Window, 133 West 22nd Street, New York*, using light, shadow, and geometry. Photography, like painting, is very much about seeing and responding to what’s in front of you. It is a process of selection and framing. In this image, the stark contrasts create a beautiful composition of lines and angles. The heavy, dark metal of the fire escape cuts across the frame, while the soft snow softens the hard edges, blurring the distinction between foreground and background. Notice how Vestal uses light to emphasize certain shapes, drawing our eye up and out of the frame, toward the sky. It reminds me of a Franz Kline painting, but with a quiet stillness. Like a lot of abstract art, this photograph invites us to look closely at the world around us and to find beauty in unexpected places. Vestal, like other photographers such as Aaron Siskind, transformed the everyday into something extraordinary. It is a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation, a constant exchange of ideas and ways of seeing.