Untitled 1980

Ursula Schulz-Dornburg made this black and white photograph, Untitled, sometime in her career, and looking at it, I feel a sense of calm and endlessness all at once. I imagine her setting up the camera, waiting for the right light to capture this landscape of water and reeds. It's so quiet, you can almost hear the soft rustling of the grass and the gentle lapping of the water. The composition is so simple, but it's also deeply complex. The lines of the water draw you into the scene, while the dense reeds create a kind of barrier, a boundary. Schulz-Dornburg often explores remote and desolate places, and this image feels like a continuation of that exploration. It makes me think about other photographers, like Robert Adams, who captured the quiet beauty of the American West. Ultimately, this photograph is about seeing, about paying attention to the world around us and finding beauty in the most unexpected places. It’s a reminder that art, like nature, is always changing, always revealing new possibilities.