Opruimen van explosieven 1947 - 1949

This photograph made by ANP, shows a kneeling soldier carefully dismantling a bomb. Imagine the process of making this image, the darkroom, the smell of chemicals, the moment of exposure, the light burning into the film. It all feels kind of alchemical and intuitive. You can almost feel the grainy texture of the photograph, like an old memory resurfacing. I wonder what was going through the photographer’s mind. What do they feel about the soldier's work? The act of defusing a bomb must be incredibly tense, the opposite of painting in a way. The stakes are so high, whereas with painting, you can make a mistake and just paint over it. But you know, sometimes I feel like I am defusing a bomb when I am painting – it takes real focus to get it right. Anyway, artists are always looking at and learning from each other, even across time. Even in a photograph of a bomb disposal expert. We take inspiration where we can find it, right?