Gezicht op aanlegsteigers aan de De Ruijterkade before 1907

Andries Jager made this photograph of the wharves on De Ruijterkade, but when, exactly? There is no date. I love looking at old photographs. I always imagine what the photographer was thinking when they took it. The light is milky, like the sun is behind the clouds. How long did he have to wait for the boat to appear in the right spot? I know that kind of waiting, when you're trying to capture something. It can feel like forever. The composition is pretty special, with the diagonal lines of the docks pulling your eye into the depths of the frame, towards the ships in the background. It feels both intimate and expansive. I think Jager was not just documenting a place; he was also capturing a feeling, a moment in time. And that’s what makes it stick with me.