Paleis van de sultan van Zanzibar, gezien vanaf het water c. 1900 - 1920

This albumen print by Coutinho Brothers shows the Paleis van de sultan van Zanzibar, seen from the water. It has a sepia tone, like a memory. I can see the photographer searching for a point of view. How do you capture the essence of a place? What does it mean to be looking from afar, from the water? The boats add a sense of scale and perspective. You can see the movement of the water; this isn’t a static image but one that lives and breathes. They are interested in the atmosphere, the light, and the way the building sits in its environment. Painters like Turner also looked at architecture from the water. They remind me that artists are always in dialogue with one another, not always directly, but in conversation across time, interpreting and reinterpreting the world around them.