Ready for the great Somme push, officer and signallers keep a sharp look-out over the Sausage valley 1916 - 1918

This black and white photograph, "Ready for the great Somme push, officer and signallers keep a sharp look-out over the Sausage valley," by Realistic Travels captures a moment in time. It’s all about process, right? Freezing a moment, a gesture of observation, in the theater of war. The image is made up of tones and textures. Look at how the grays define the mud and the uniforms, the subtle shifts in light across the scene. The photograph is about surface, the rough texture of the earth, the sharp points of the barbed wire. And then there's that one figure, the officer leaning forward, his gaze fixed on something beyond the frame. What is he seeing? What is he thinking? It's a gesture that speaks volumes, a focal point that draws you in. This piece is related to work by photographers such as Paul Nash. But whereas Nash shows the environment of war, Realistic Travels focuses on the human experience. It is an image of observation, of looking out, but also of looking in, to the multiple layers of meaning that photographs can convey.