Zeilschepen op een plas bij Sneek c. 1905 - 1907

This turn-of-the-century photograph of sailboats on the Sneek canal by Folkert Idzes de Jong feels more like a drawing, the sepia tones and blurred lines making me think of charcoal or ink wash. I wonder if he saw himself as an artist who used the camera instead of a brush? Looking at it, I imagine the artist setting up his equipment, maybe feeling the breeze himself, trying to capture that moment of stillness and movement together. I imagine how the light was changing, reflecting off the water, and how he chose this particular angle to frame the scene. I like how the dark reeds in the foreground create a screen that flattens the space. The details are soft, smudgy, and not too sharp. These boats, with their billowing sails, feel like characters in a play. Did the artist see this like a stage set, and did he wonder about the players in this landscape? What else might be happening in this particular place? There’s an ongoing conversation between artists of all kinds, through time, and this image makes me think about that long back-and-forth about capturing a sense of place. It is inspiring, isn’t it?