Man met paard en wagen bij een boerderij in de sneeuw in Crooswijk c. 1905 - 1907

Folkert Idzes de Jong captured this image of a man with a horse and cart near a farm in snowy Crooswijk. It's a tiny scene, a little window into a world. I imagine De Jong outside in the cold with his camera, setting up the shot, thinking about how to arrange the composition so that the eye travels from the dark bank in the foreground, over the snow, and into the scene. Look at the bare branches of the trees, how they reach up like delicate lines drawn on the sky. This photograph reminds me of a pencil drawing, soft and muted. The textures are subtle. The sepia tone gives the image a feeling of distance. I wonder what De Jong would make of color photography, or even digital art? There’s something comforting in knowing artists, like De Jong, capture these fleeting moments, continuing the conversation about how we see and experience the world.