Versailles, Bosquet de l'Arc de Triomphe 1904

This photograph of a sculpture in Versailles was taken by Eugène Atget sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Imagine him there, lugging his equipment around the gardens. He must have felt a kinship with these stone figures, themselves remnants of a bygone era. Look at the way the light falls on the figures, the way the stone is weathered and worn. You can almost feel the weight of history bearing down on them. The sculpture shows classical figures with their heads bowed and their bodies slumped. There's a real sense of melancholy here. I wonder what Atget was thinking as he framed this shot. Atget photographed the streets of Paris and its surrounding areas for over thirty years. In doing so he was following in the footsteps of other artists who found beauty in the overlooked corners of the world. His photos continue to inspire our creativity, documenting our lives and bearing witness to the passage of time.