Horgász-stég (Fisherman's Dock) c. 1930

Olga Máté made this photograph, Fisherman's Dock, with what looks like a close and careful eye for composition. The angles of the dock supports draw the eye down into the water, which is rendered in subtle gradations of light and shadow. The texture is really what gets me in this photograph; look at the way the light plays on the surface of the water. Máté captures every ripple, every tiny wave, with incredible detail. The black and white palette really strips things back to basics, focusing attention on the interplay between light and form. See how the pilings cast long, wavering shadows that stretch and distort in the water, turning a simple structure into an almost abstract pattern. Máté was part of a generation who were thinking about photography as fine art, and you can see her playing with the kind of abstraction you might associate with the painter László Moholy-Nagy. Both encourage us to embrace ambiguity.