Untitled (row of houses seen from street) 1948

This is a photograph by Robert Burian, showing a row of houses seen from the street. It’s small, only four by five inches, but it captures a whole mood. What strikes me is the tonal range, how the light falls across the scene creating this contrast of light and shadow. Look at the road, the way the white line snakes through the dark asphalt. It’s almost like a brushstroke, guiding our eye deeper into the picture. The surface of the photograph itself is smooth, but the image has a tactile quality. You can almost feel the texture of the grass, the brick of the houses. It reminds me of some of the early black and white photographs by Walker Evans, where he’s documenting everyday American life with a kind of stark, unsentimental beauty. There’s a similar sense of quiet observation here, a feeling of being present in this place, at this moment. It’s a simple scene, but it holds a lot of complexity.