Portret van familie in tuin voor hun huis c. 1905

Augusta Curiel made this photograph of a family in a garden in front of their house using photographic paper. Look at how she manages to get so much detail into the fronds of the palm trees and the foliage of the shrubs. She is clearly embracing the process of image-making. Curiel is working with a tonal palette here, using a range of greys to give shape and form to all the elements in the picture. Think about the surface of the photograph, the way it looks almost velvety, and the light reflects off it. Look at the way the sunlight falls on the building to the right. You can see the textures of the wooden slats so clearly. Curiel is a master of her medium. Her work reminds me of Berenice Abbott, who documented the changing face of New York in the 1930s. But unlike Abbott, Curiel is focused on the personal rather than the urban. What is not clear is how Curiel persuaded all these people to stand still for so long.