Prins Hendrik met op schoot prinses Juliana 1911

This photograph of Prince Hendrik and Princess Juliana was shot by Guy de Coral & Co. Think about what it might have been like to be a photographer in those days. It’s such a different process from today's camera phone snapshots. I bet they spent ages getting the lighting just so, coaxing their sitters into the right pose. Imagine the weight of that old camera, the smell of the developing chemicals. There’s a formality here, sure. But maybe there's also a tenderness too. It's there in the way the Prince is holding the baby, the way she is kind of leaning into him. You get the sense that being captured in an image was a special event, full of anticipation and nerves. Like an early form of performance, captured and preserved in sepia tones. It's not a painting, but the way the light falls creates depth and mood, almost like a Rembrandt.