Sabatine's, Martins Creek, Pennsylvania 1978

Larry Fink made this gelatin silver print, Sabatine’s, Martins Creek, Pennsylvania, sometime in the twentieth century. I love the tonal range here, the subtle gradients of gray that seem to shape the figures and landscape out of light itself, like a memory half-formed. It reminds me that art-making is always a process of discovery, of finding form within the formless. The textures in this print are so rich, aren't they? Look at the way the light catches on the leaves, or the soft blur of the background. It’s almost palpable. And then there's that figure in the foreground, cropped so close, its plaid shorts and patterned shirt becoming abstract fields of tone. The cropping feels so intuitive, so daring, a little like Diane Arbus' way of getting close to people! It's as if Fink is inviting us to consider the relationship between ourselves and the world around us, the way we are all interconnected, even in our differences. For me, Fink’s photograph is a reminder of the power of art to embrace ambiguity and to invite us to see the world in new and unexpected ways.