Voetballers van HVV tijdens een wedstrijd 1902

Geldolph Adriaan Kessler made this photograph of HVV football players during a game; it's hard to pin down when. The sepia tone pulls you in, doesn't it? Like an old memory, the sepia tone adds a layer of abstraction, because it has a painterly feel, softening the edges. Looking closely, the texture of the print itself has its own story to tell, like the slightly mottled surface. You can almost feel the grain of the photographic paper. See how the light catches the players’ striped shirts. It is this visual rhythm that gives the image its energy, like a dance frozen in time. It reminds me a little of the work of early photographers like Muybridge, capturing movement and transforming it into something static and beautiful. But unlike Muybridge, Kessler’s image isn’t about scientific precision, but rather the sheer joy of the game. Art lets us pause, reflect, and see the world a little differently.