“Photography does dramatize light and shade, softness and sharpness, foreground and background; does dramatize where drama is: that is, in the surfaces, the depths, the relations of things.” –Eli Siegel from Aesthetic Realism and Photography
What drama is here, as the dark massive bridge disappears into the fog! It’s striking, too, the way the weighty bridge and slender trees meet at the bridge’s vanishing point, drawing our eye into that distant point.
The trees seem to be in a delicate clamor with their many forking, reaching branches. There’s a relation, too, between those living branches and the crisscrossing metalwork and strong diagonal of the bridge. “The surfaces, depths, relations of things” are brought forth and given mystery in that wonderful snowy mist-filled air.
There’s lovely opposition here to the desire I had, as people can, to dismiss things, make them dim and grey—which I learned was contempt. The photographer had a different purpose—he’s looking for the meaningful mystery and possible beauty in reality that’s always there. It’s the purpose we want and can go after.
–Nancy Huntting