Schoorsteen in de raadzaal van het stadhuis te Bergen op Zoom 1911

This photo, taken in April 1911, captures the chimney in the council chamber of the town hall in Bergen op Zoom. I love how the light reveals the form of the chimney piece in exquisite detail, carved with repeated geometric patterns. What might the photograph have been thinking as it was being made, patiently waiting for the right light? What was the photographer thinking? I can imagine them pondering the challenge of how to capture its depth and presence. The cool sepia palette, the subtle modulations of tone, it gives the object such warmth. The photographer makes the piece glow. Photography, like painting, is about making something from nothing, and it is a process of endless refinement, trying new ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling, and trying to get it just right. Photography and painting are both forms of embodied expression, in constant dialogue with one another.