Gezicht op Kasteel Cannenburch te Vaassen 1905

Henri Bickhoff made this photograph of Kasteel Cannenburch, it is a dreamy sepia print. What strikes me most is the stillness, the quiet. You can sense the calm of the water, barely ruffled, the stillness of the bare trees. Bickhoff has really captured the light, it's soft and diffused, and the way it reflects off the water is almost magical. The tones create a mood that's both nostalgic and a little melancholic. I’m drawn to the reflection of the castle in the water, it’s not perfectly clear, more like a ghostly echo. The whole image feels like it's about memory, about something that's fading but still present. This photograph reminds me a little of some of Eugène Atget's Parisian street scenes - the way he captured the city as it was changing, with a kind of quiet observation. It's this idea of the artist as a witness, recording a particular moment in time, with all its subtle beauty and impermanence.