Gabriele F. Gotz 1982

John Gossage captured this photograph titled Gabriele F. Gotz with light and silver salts, transforming feeling into tonal depth. I love that the image is soft, and I get a strong sense of a breeze in the air. I can imagine Gossage working with a large format camera, considering the portrait's subtle gradation of grays, and the woman in the photograph with windswept hair. You can feel the gentle movement of the wind on her face. Maybe Gossage was thinking about earlier photographers like Julia Margaret Cameron, who also liked working with soft focus. When I look at this photo, I think about intimacy and stillness. Gossage and Cameron remind me that photography is not just about capturing a likeness, but about making something new. Each artist, through their individual choices, participates in an ongoing dialogue, inspiring new creative expressions in others.