Foundations of two anchor piers and a pivot pier 1901 - 1902

This is a photograph of bridge foundations, taken by Arnaud Pistoor & Zoon in February 1901. Look at how the image is almost entirely monochrome, a very limited palette of grays and whites. It lends a ghostly quality to the scene, like a memory fading at the edges. The texture is fascinating; you can almost feel the rough-hewn planks of wood and the slick, icy surface of the water. See how the light reflects off the water, creating these blurry, distorted shapes that mimic the scaffolding above. There's a contrast here between the solid, man-made structures and the fluid, unpredictable nature of the water. And those tiny figures standing atop the scaffolding, they’re like ants against this massive construction. It makes you think about the scale of human endeavor and our constant reshaping of the world around us. Like, who took this picture? What did they think of it? How can something feel so distant and so present at the same time? It is so simple, so strange.