Kitchen Counter with Scale in Foreground, Berkeley, California c. 1976

Joanne Leonard made this photograph, *Kitchen Counter with Scale in Foreground, Berkeley, California*, with a camera, lens and film sometime in the last century. The composition is a fairly conventional still life, but it’s the tonality that gets me. Leonard has created a complex range of greys with her photography. The way light interacts with the objects on the counter, bouncing and reflecting, gives the image its dynamic quality. Look at the scale in the foreground. It’s almost sculptural, isn't it? It dominates the image, casting a shadow that anchors the whole scene. There’s a real tension here, a visual push and pull between the mundane and the profound. Leonard reminds me a little of Jan Groover, who also elevated the still life into something more psychologically complex. With her choice of objects, and her play with light and shadow, Leonard asks us to look closely at the everyday and to find meaning in the overlooked.