Tabaksveld op het Bindjey Estate van de Deli-Batavia Maatschappij op Sumatra (op dag van aanplant) c. 1900 - 1920

This is a photograph called, "Tabaksveld op het Bindjey Estate van de Deli-Batavia Maatschappij op Sumatra (op dag van aanplant)", whose author is unfortunately unknown. It’s hard for me to get into anonymous works, yet there’s something here that speaks to me. The photograph is quite simple, it depicts a landscape on the day of plantation. I can imagine what it might have been like for the author to produce the photograph. The smell of the soil, the heat of the sun, the expectation, and then, the shot. What does this have to do with painting? Everything! Like a painter choosing their brush, there’s a choice to be made about what to capture and what to leave out, how to frame a scene, or who or what to give space to. And, just as a painter takes their place in a long line of artists, so too, does a photographer. We all borrow from each other! We are linked by our desire to capture the world in image and form, and to share our view with the world. Each photographer or painter takes inspiration from the work of others, thus maintaining a continuous exchange of ideas across time.