Untitled (woman leaning over baby on bed, Houston, Texas) 1929

This gelatin silver print of a woman leaning over a baby on a bed in Houston, Texas, was made by Paul Gittings. There’s something quite raw about the texture here. The silvery sheen, the way the light catches it, makes me think about memory, and how it can sometimes feel distant and otherworldly. You can almost feel the cool surface of the photograph, the slight graininess adding a tactile quality to the image. The tones are so smooth, but then you notice that one of the baby's hands is outstretched, like the child is reaching for the mother's face. It's a subtle detail, but it changes everything, it creates a beautiful tension. Thinking about other image-makers, I am reminded of artists like Diane Arbus, who similarly captured intimate moments with a directness and lack of sentimentality. It’s that sense of immediacy, the feeling that we're witnessing something real and unscripted, that makes both artists so compelling. I think that's where the magic lies.