Seagulls, Provincetown 1949

Sid Grossman made this photograph, Seagulls, Provincetown, and what strikes me first is the dance of light and dark, the ripple of water made solid in shades of gray. It’s almost like looking at a painting where each brushstroke captures the essence of movement. I imagine Grossman standing at the water's edge, watching these birds in their element. What was it like to frame this shot? To consider the surface of the water as both reflective and transparent, revealing and concealing? I'm drawn to the texture of the water itself. I can almost feel the coolness of the water, each ripple a stroke of a painter's brush. There’s a sense of the everyday, a focus on the often-overlooked beauty in the ordinary. I think it would be a mistake to read this as a closed image—maybe its openness speaks to painting and abstraction.