Arbeiders (vooraan Jan Vink) laden een houten vat bij een limonadefabriek c. 1900 - 1910

This photograph of workers loading a wooden barrel at a lemonade factory captures a moment frozen in time. The whole piece is a study in the sepia tone, with the limited colour palette creating a melancholic feel, and drawing your eye to the details. There’s something about the way the light falls on the barrel, highlighting the texture of the wood, that makes me think about the materiality of the image. It’s a reminder of the physical processes involved, from the harvesting of wood for the barrel, to the labour involved in loading it, to the chemical processes of early photography. Look at the way the anonymous photographer has captured the workers, their stance and the shadow. It makes me think of the German photographer, August Sander, whose portraits of ordinary people aimed to document the social reality of his time, and the nature of art as an ongoing conversation about how we represent the world around us.