Optocht NSB 1936 - 1937

This photograph, Optocht NSB, was made by an anonymous artist. It's a small image, only 8 by 5.5 centimeters. You can almost feel the weight of the past looking at it, right? There's a march taking place; you get a sense of the artist trying to capture a moment in time. I imagine them, maybe a little nervous, trying to record the scene as truthfully as possible. The tones are subdued, sepia-tinged, which somehow intensifies the feeling of history. I wonder what the photographer thought of the marchers, and what it was like to witness the parade? You can see how the artist framed the scene to tell a story, to make a statement, to record their memory. Just like painting, photography can capture and freeze moments in time, and that's a powerful thing. Even without knowing who made the photograph, we can still have a conversation with them through the picture.