Untitled 1913

Lewis Hine made this photograph sometime in the early 20th century using a camera, lens and photographic paper. It's all shades of gray and off-white, a study in light. It's an image of two young boys standing on a street, each holding books or papers. The surface is mostly smooth, like a memory, but look closer and you'll see the texture of the brick wall, the rough pavement, and the soft clothing. There’s a beautiful tension between the sharp focus on the boys' faces and the soft blur of the background. It's the kind of photo that makes you wonder about their lives. And what about those bare feet? They anchor the composition, drawing our attention to the present, to the feeling of standing on that street corner. Hine was an activist, and I wonder if Walker Evans might have looked at Hine's images. Anyway, it makes me think about how a single photograph can hold so much, both seen and unseen.