Echtpaar Berti Hoppe en Herman Besselaar met de hond aan het strand te Noordwijk Possibly 1936 - 1938

This is a series of black and white photographs by Berti Hoppe, showing a couple, Berti Hoppe and Herman Besselaar, with their dog on a beach. It's a diaristic record, almost like a snapshot of a memory. I'm drawn to the texture, or what I imagine it would be, of these gelatin silver prints. The contrast between the figures and the beach creates a kind of emotional friction. It's not just about what's depicted, but how it feels. Look at the image of the dog swimming in the sea. The way the water is captured, almost frozen in time, gives the image a quality which is both concrete and ephemeral. I am reminded of the work of Karl Struss, who used photography to similar, painterly effect. Ultimately though, art making is about capturing a fleeting moment. It's less about the details and more about the feeling.