Vier foto's van Loentje Onnen met vrienden in Loosdrecht en het Spanderswoud, koningin-moeder Emma te Loosdrecht en huis Sparrenhoek aan de Kroonlaan te Hilversum Possibly 1910 - 1919

These four photographs by Carolina (Loentje) Frederika Onnen, capture a sense of time and place, of a world moving at a different pace. There’s a tactile quality to these images; the sepia tones feel like they’ve been absorbed by the paper over time, like the way old pigments sink into the canvas. There is an intriguing relationship between foreground and background in each of these frames. In the upper left shot, figures are gathered around a table, and yet the background of the wooden structure flattens this image, pulling it forward. Each photograph is like a note in a visual diary, a quiet observation of life’s unfolding. Much like the work of early photographers such as Anna Atkins, this album reminds me of the potential in the everyday and the beauty of a homemade archive. These pictures aren’t about perfection, but about a personal way of seeing, feeling and recording. They invite us to embrace the imperfections, to find meaning in the mundane, and to celebrate the art of observation.