Twee naakte kinderen bij het water before 1903

This photograph of two nude children by water was made by Hugo Erfurth, though we don't know exactly when. The sepia tones give this photograph a very old world feel, and also suggest the warmth of the sun. The children are at play, one reaches out to touch the water, so you can feel the joy of being a child. The textures visible here are of the water, with reflections of light, and the foliage in the background. The focus is on the children and the water, while the background is less sharply in focus, drawing our attention to the relationship between the children and water, but not in such a way that we forget the wider environment. The photograph reminds me of early modernist works by painters like Paula Modersohn-Becker. It celebrates childhood as a time of freedom and connection with nature. Like Modersohn-Becker's paintings, the photograph has an un-idealized naturalism, embracing the un-posed body and the immediacy of the present moment.