Doorsnijding van den Veerpolder nabij Malburgen Possibly 1907

This is a photo by Arnaud Pistoor & Zoon, called "Doorsnijding van den Veerpolder nabij Malburgen". I am thinking about the flat, still water, how it lies there, like a mirror, and the land flanking it on either side... a kind of stillness that feels very Dutch, very solid. The brown, sepia tone of the whole scene gives it a timeless quality, as if it could have been taken yesterday or a hundred years ago. When I look at this image, I feel a sense of calm, but also a little bit of melancholy. Like, what were they thinking about when they took this picture? Were they thinking about how it would look to people in the future? There is a lot of empty space in the middle, that water, and the horizon line which is a reminder of the vastness of nature. It's like, how can we ever really capture all of that? I guess we can’t. But the act of trying is what makes art so interesting, and maybe connects artists to one another in the present, past, and future.