Militairen tijdens een schietoefening te Vlaardingen 1935 - 1945

This photograph captures military exercises in Vlaardingen, shot by an anonymous photographer. It’s a small print, so the surface is pretty smooth, and the tones run from pale grays to dark blacks. The image shows soldiers practicing, some peering through rifles, others standing, observing. The act of shooting—the position, the gear, the intense concentration of a soldier—it’s all here. I wonder what was going through the photographer’s mind when they took this picture. Were they thinking about the composition, the way the light fell across the field? Or were they more focused on the human drama unfolding before them, the way the soldiers were embodying a certain kind of power and control? The anonymous artist may be long gone, but these gestures remain, etched into the photographic paper, inviting us to reflect on the stories they contain.