Multiple Exposure Tree, Chicago c. 1956

This small gelatin silver print is called "Multiple Exposure Tree, Chicago," by Harry Callahan. I love the way the branches reach and tangle, like lines in a drawing, especially because it's a photograph. Callahan is using the camera as a way to mark make, layering images on top of each other, like a painter might build up layers of paint. Look closely, and you can see how the tree is both there and not there, solid and ghostly. The way Callahan has printed it, the black is rich and deep, but the gray tones create a sense of transparency, as if we're seeing through the tree to something beyond. There's a real physicality to the way the branches overlap, creating a kind of visual rhythm, like the beat of music. It makes me think of Cy Twombly’s line drawings somehow. Callahan's work often plays with these kinds of multiple exposures, pushing the boundaries of what photography can do, making us question what we see, and how we see it.