Familie Kessler tijdens een uitje op het landgoed van kasteel Ter Horst in Loenen 1904

This stereoscopic photograph captures the Kessler family during an outing at the Ter Horst castle estate in Loenen, though the date remains unknown. The sepia tones create a nostalgic lens through which we view this intimate scene, invoking the passage of time and hinting at stories untold. What strikes me is the texture of the image itself. It is tactile, almost grainy. You can nearly feel the fibres of the photographic paper. The figures, arranged around a table under a tent, are caught in a moment of leisure. Look at the soft edges and muted palette; there's a beautiful blurriness around the edges of the tent. It gives a dreamlike quality, as if recalling a memory. It feels intimate, immediate. The composition is reminiscent of early Impressionist paintings. Think of Manet’s picnics, but here, filtered through the lens of an amateur, embracing both the spontaneous and the imperfect. Like Impressionism, it values feeling over rigid representation. This photograph embraces the beauty of a shared moment.