Paifang te Peking before 1920

Donald Mennie's photograph, Paifang te Peking, captures a street scene, composed with light and shadow in a way that feels both precise and dreamy. The sepia tones give the image a nostalgic feel, like a memory softened by time. It makes me think about how photographs are like paintings, in that they’re both constructed realities. Mennie chose this angle, this light, and in doing so, he’s not just showing us a place, but a way of seeing it. Look at the texture of the cobblestone street, how the light catches each stone, and then how the shadows stretch and distort the figures passing under the arch. That dark shadow running down the centre feels like a bold stroke of paint, dividing the composition and adding a touch of drama. It reminds me a bit of some of the early modernist photographers who were playing with abstraction. Like them, Mennie finds a kind of beauty in the everyday, turning a simple street scene into something mysterious and evocative. It’s like he’s saying, look closer, there’s more here than meets the eye.