Collection 1950s–1970s

Ray K. Metzker. Chicago. 1958 410

Gelatin silver print, 9 15/16 × 13 5/8" (25.2 × 34.6 cm). Purchase

Artist, Ray K. Metzker: Chicago series...it represented, architecture, city activity, as well as the people themselves.

Somewhere in the beginning it just seemed so impossible. I think what happened was, it went through the fall and the winter. And that's a really low time to photograph because for one thing, the light changes. And I couldn't really account for this, you know. It just wasn't exciting to be out there photographing.

Then I remember I was walking down an alley one spring day. And the way the light was playing in some backyard, it just seemed...it seemed fantastic. So I ran home and got my camera, returned to the site, made some exposures, and then the momentum started to build.

I feel that the black, is primarily a dramatic device for screening unwanted detail. I mean, people would say, "well, they're so very black or very dark" or just say, "you don't know how to print," and "you don't know how to get the full range of values out of a negative." But it seems to me that to go to the edge or to push something, that's when a new world opens up, a new sense of possibility occurs.