Minor White, Arlington, Massachusetts 1970

David Vestal made this gelatin silver print, Minor White, Arlington, Massachusetts, at an undetermined date. What I get from this photograph is the power of the monochrome. When all the hues are gone, we are left with this stark contrast in the tonal range, the stark white hair of White, set against the shadowy depths of the background. The photograph has a particular grainy texture, almost like a drawing rendered with charcoal. I find myself drawn to the way Vestal captures light, and it's that light that defines White, whose expression is captured as he pores over his work. His hair, a cloud of white, is a perfect foil to the geometric lines of the papers. Vestal, like White, embraced photography not just as a means of documentation, but as a medium for exploring the depths of human experience, a thread that ties their work together. Like all good art, we find ourselves not with answers but with a bunch of questions, floating in a sea of gray.