Untitled (woman in black dress with decorative white collar seen from back at base of staircase) after 1940

This untitled image, a silver gelatin print by Paul Gittings, presents a woman poised on a staircase. What strikes me is the stark contrast, the almost brutal shift from black to white. It’s a classic photographic process, but it’s also a kind of visual thinking, a study in extremes. Look at how the light catches the banister. It’s almost sculptural, each twist highlighted with a crisp, clean edge. This precision is in conversation with the soft focus of the woman’s face. The way the light wraps around her suggests a kind of romanticism, a gentle gaze. This tension between the hard and soft is where the image finds its strength. It’s a conversation between control and surrender, much like the act of making itself. It reminds me of the work of Diane Arbus, especially her exploration of portraiture. But where Arbus courts the unsettling, Gittings offers a strange balance, a study in poised elegance.