Untitled (studio portrait of mother with son and daughter, all in angled hats) c. 1940

Paul Gittings made this silver gelatin print, a studio portrait of a mother with her son and daughter, all wearing hats. What strikes me about this image is how Gittings has embraced a kind of tonal reversal, where the darks become light and vice versa. This makes you think about the process – the alchemical magic of photography, which is all about light but also shadow. Look closely at the mother's face. The lines around her eyes and mouth, usually rendered as darker shadows, are now glowing highlights. This strange effect almost gives her a supernatural, ethereal quality. The texture of the paper and the way the light bounces off it becomes a key player here. It’s like Gittings is saying, hey, this isn't just a picture, it’s an object. This playing with light and dark reminds me a little of some of the photographic work of Lisette Model, where she finds these stark contrasts and odd angles that change how we look at familiar things. Ultimately, Gittings' image embraces its own weirdness and asks us to do the same.