Brenda Putnam

Brenda Putnam spent decades running a camera with one hand and a light meter with the other, snapping the same quiet Boston street at dawn for decades. She never titled her photos, letting the years and light do the talking. You can trace a kind of time-lapse across the frames, same fire hydrant, different snowdrifts and leaf piles.

Her work belongs in Gallery Tiles because one untitled frame shows a lone pigeon mid-flap over the hydrant; tap it, and you’ll see how a single second can hold a whole neighborhood’s quiet history.