André Kertész at Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York 1969

David Vestal made this gelatin silver print, "André Kertész at Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York," and right away I notice the interplay of light and shadow, something he really hones in on. Vestal doesn't shy away from dramatic blacks, using them to frame and highlight Kertész in a way that feels almost theatrical. The composition, with the stark doorway and the textured brick, it's like a stage set. The way Vestal captures light, especially how it glances off the brick and casts those hard shadows, it gives everything a tactile quality. You can almost feel the roughness of the brick, the coolness of the cement. It reminds me a bit of some of Edward Hopper's paintings, that same sense of urban isolation and the beauty of everyday scenes. Vestal, like Hopper, finds a way to make the ordinary seem extraordinary, capturing a moment that's both fleeting and timeless.