Portret van drie mannen in pak voor struiken 1909

This is Geldolph Adriaan Kessler’s “Portret van drie mannen in pak voor struiken,” made with some kind of photographic process. I wonder what it was like to be these guys, all dressed up, standing in the middle of what looks like a field. Were they hot? Were they being patient? There’s something so stiff and formal about them, and then this wildness all around, like nature is about to swallow them up. Maybe Kessler was making a point about society versus nature, or maybe it was just a funny accident, like when you see a fancy poodle at the dog park. I guess photography is all about capturing accidents, those split seconds, and then later on we try to figure out what they mean. What do you think?