Anatomie van een slak before 1901

This is a photograph of a dissection of a snail, laid out in stark black and white. I can only imagine the patience it took, the hours bent over, the careful peeling back of layers. I feel for the artist, Adolphe Louis Donnadieu, who had to work with such precision. What was he thinking, trying to capture this fleeting moment of exposure? I see the light glinting off the slick surfaces, the delicate tendrils reaching out. It reminds me that art is as much about seeing as it is about knowing. Like a painter layering brushstrokes, the photographer builds up an image through light and shadow. It's a kind of conversation, isn't it? We're all talking to each other across time, inspiring each other. And that’s what keeps the whole crazy dance of art going.