Militairen tijdens een schietoefening te Vlaardingen 1935 - 1945

This photograph, 'Militairen tijdens een schietoefening te Vlaardingen', was taken by an anonymous photographer. It's a snapshot of soldiers during target practice, all in shades of gray, like a memory fading at the edges. The texture of the grass and the rough-hewn wooden planks they’re using as support are palpable, even through the photo's grain. My eye keeps getting drawn back to the soldier lying prone, sighting down his rifle. There is something in his stillness, in the way he is so focused on the task, that feels completely at odds with the chaos of war, of life. It reminds me of Lee Friedlander’s social landscapes, the way he finds the poetics in the everyday. There's a tension here, a kind of quiet hum, that makes you feel like you’re witnessing something both ordinary and profound. Art can do that.