Aankomst van een groep militairen Possibly 1935

This photograph, "Aankomst van een groep militairen," is a small monochrome image, likely a documentary photograph of its time, but one can still see how the maker was thinking. It is about a process - the arrival of a group of soldiers. The tones are soft, with subtle gradations, making the surface of the print feel almost velvety. Look at the way the photographer plays with light and shadow to define the forms, from the sharp highlight on the roof to the softer gradations across the fields and figures. The composition, with its balance of horizontal and vertical elements, gives the photograph a sense of stillness, a moment captured in time. The anonymous maker allows us to see the world and the power structures of the time. It reminds me a little of some of Gerhard Richter's documentary photographs, where the everyday is transformed into something else, something uncanny. It embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations, leaving us to fill in the blanks, to imagine the stories behind the image.