Schapen en lammetjes op een boerenerf in Maarssen c. 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe made this photograph, "Sheep and Lambs in a Farmyard in Maarssen", using a camera and darkroom techniques sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The image is almost entirely in sepia tones, that lovely brown wash that makes everything look vintage. It reminds me that photography, like painting, is all about manipulating light and shadow, and creating different ways of seeing. Here, the light catches the wool of the sheep and the hay behind them, giving everything a soft, tactile quality. Look at the way the textures play against each other: the rough, bundled hay, the smooth, rounded forms of the sheep, and the tiny figure of the boy. The surface of this photograph isn't glossy or slick; it's matte and a little grainy, which makes me think about the physical process of making a print. It’s like looking at a painting by George Bellows – a moment captured with tenderness, and a real sense of atmosphere. There’s no right way to read this image, and that’s what makes it so appealing.