Groepsportret van vier onbekende kinderen before 1902

This black and white photograph of four children comes from a book, by an artist called Th. u. O. Hofmeister. You know, the funny thing about photographs is that they can feel so decisive, a click and a flash and bam, there it is, but really it's more like building than capturing. Look at the way the light falls across their faces, how the shadows seem to shape their features. It’s a masterclass in chiaroscuro. The artist makes the most of a monochrome palette, creating depth and mood, using light and shade. And each of their eyes seem to say something different! Now, I'm thinking about someone like Lucian Freud, who could make paint feel like skin, or Gerhard Richter, who smeared and blurred his photographs to find new meanings. Hofmeister may have asked similar questions about how images can create a world all of their own. Like paint, photography is about transformation and exploration. It's about seeing what happens when you push the medium to its limits.