8 rue de Varenne, Paris 1934

Ilse Bing made this gelatin silver print in 1934, and right away I'm thinking about how light just does its thing, bouncing off surfaces, creating shadows, and how Bing managed to catch that. I wonder what it was like for her, standing on the street at 8 rue de Varenne, looking up at that street sign and the lamp, the scene somehow both ordinary and extraordinary. The way the light flares around the edges of the lamp, it feels like a halo. There’s something kind of magical in the everyday here; it feels so quiet. Bing wasn't just pointing and shooting; she was looking, feeling, and framing a moment. That single line running from the lamp, connecting it to the street sign, is so simple but so important! It's that kind of subtle gesture that makes you realize how thoughtful and deliberate the photograph really is. We can all learn so much from each other, right? Bing did for sure!