Thomas Annan; Close No.61, Saltmarket

This photograph is taken from Thomas Annan's collection documenting the slums of Glasgow between 1868 and 1877.  It is a document of purpose commissioned by Glasgow city council in order to map out the inner city's poorer areas however the author's composition of the image is much more considered.
Annan frames this scene and focuses at the black void at the end of the alleyway. The rest of the image seems wispy and almost transient. The viewer's eye is drawn down this almost impossibly narrow space to the uncertainty of the dark void encapsulating the confining character of the area he is documenting.