Groep Tibetaanse geestelijken (lama's) met blaasinstrumenten (dunchen) 1903 - 1906

This photograph of Tibetan monks with wind instruments was taken by D.T. Dalton, its precise date lost in time. Look at the texture in the image; you can almost feel the rough walls behind the group of monks, standing so still. It's a record of a moment, but the act of photographing is also an intervention. The photographer chooses what to focus on, what to leave out. It reminds me of those old black and white photographs of artists in their studios, capturing a moment but also shaping a narrative. What do you think it was like to live and work here? Dalton's perspective, filtered through their own experience, adds another layer to the image. We’re left with a document that invites us to think about the act of seeing, the choices we make when we frame the world around us. Photography, like painting, is just another way of interpreting and understanding. It shows that we are all influencing and shaping each other's views, and we always have been.