Untitled (portrait of little girl in sundress with floral motif) c. 1940

Paul Gittings created this photograph, a portrait of a little girl, in an unknown year, using a photographic process. It's fascinating how photography, like painting, is fundamentally about light and shadow; here, Gittings seems to invert this relationship, creating a ghostly, high-contrast image. The girl’s sundress, complete with a delicate floral motif, almost glows against the darker background. Look at the edges, where the light bleeds around her hair and the soft fabric of her dress. It’s this treatment of light that gives the photograph its ethereal quality, blurring the line between documentation and dream. The texture in the photograph is smooth, which is offset by the bright detail of her face and dress. It reminds me a little of the portraits by John Singer Sargent, who also knew how to capture a sitter's essence with a certain flair, even if Sargent worked with oils instead of light. This photo is a reminder that art is not just about what we see, but how we see it, a continuous dialogue across mediums and time.