Nest met eieren van een roek c. 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe made this photograph of a rook’s nest with eggs, and I love the way he’s handled light and dark here, it’s almost painterly. The composition is all about process, right? Starting from the outside and working in, layer upon layer. Up close, you can see the sepia tones give the whole image a kind of antique feel. The textures are amazing - all those rough twigs and branches and then, in the very center, those smooth, perfect eggs. I keep thinking about what it must have been like for Tepe to set up his camera, to frame this shot, the care and patience involved. There is something so satisfying about the contrast between the wildness of the nest and the delicate, vulnerable eggs nestled within. It reminds me a little bit of some of the nest paintings by Joseph Cornell, that feeling of something precious and precarious, all at the same time. Ultimately, it’s a conversation about the fragility and endurance, wouldn’t you say?