Erf met pluimvee van een boerderij in Vaassen c. 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe made this photograph, Erf met pluimvee van een boerderij in Vaassen, sometime between 1864 and 1952. The way the light hits the geese, scattered across the dirt, suggests that it's a grey day. I wonder if Tepe was cold when he was taking this picture? The geese don't seem to mind. They go about their business, pecking and preening in the yard, oblivious to the weather. It makes me think about how we, as artists, often try to capture a moment in time, to freeze it and preserve it. But, of course, the moment is always fleeting, always changing, and it can be hard to know when it’s gone! It’s up to us to respond to what we see and feel. Tepe certainly did. I wonder what those geese were thinking?