Gezicht op een water before 1902

Albert Canfyn made this photograph, Gezicht op een water, seemingly with a careful consideration of light and texture. It’s a silvery, grey sort of thing. A watery landscape that reflects bare trees. The beauty here is in the subtle shifts of tone. The way the trees melt into the water, and the sky above. It’s all about the surface, how light bounces off it, and how that changes the mood. The reflections are so key, it’s almost as if the artist has deliberately blurred the distinction between what’s real and what’s mirrored. It reminds me that art-making is a process of mirroring and transforming, of taking something real and making it strange, and new. The stillness of the water, the bareness of the trees, it all creates a sense of quiet melancholy. It’s like an early Corot, but with photography.