Klipsteenstraat en Emmaschool, Paramaribo 1903 - 1910

Hendrik Doijer made this photograph of Klipsteenstraat en Emmaschool in Paramaribo, and you can almost feel the light, can't you? Looking at it now, I wonder about Doijer and his journey through the streets. What caught his eye? The tracks cutting through the scene, or the people populating the space with their daily lives? There’s something so simple and direct about the way he’s framed this view. It makes you think about the role of photography, then and now. Was it a tool for documentation, a means of expression, or perhaps both? Each photograph is a conversation with what’s there, an exchange between the photographer, the subject, and, eventually, us, the viewers. Maybe it’s about trying to pin down a moment, even if it’s impossible to truly capture it all.