Joseph Cheetham (vermoedelijk), de krant lezend in een tuin in Rusland 1903 - 1904

This is a small photograph, probably taken in the early twentieth century, and it shows a man reading in a garden, maybe in Russia. The artist, Joseph Cheetham, captures a moment in time, a quiet afternoon scene. What strikes me is how the shades of brown bleed into each other. It's all sepia, blurring the boundaries between the man, the garden, and the architecture. The details become secondary to the overall mood. The photograph is soft, edges are not clearly defined, giving it a dreamlike quality. I want to step into that faded moment. The man’s newspaper is the brightest area of the photo, and it contrasts with the shadows around him. Maybe Cheetham saw the photograph as a way to embrace the way light and shadow plays off of texture and form. It reminds me of Gerhard Richter's blurred photos, which also have a kind of melancholic beauty. Ultimately, a photograph is a way to keep a memory alive, or let it fade, depending on how you look at it.