Rivier Avon 1901

Frits Freerks Fontein Fz. made this photograph, Rivier Avon, with light and chemistry and probably a camera. It’s really about the grays, isn’t it? Look how Fontein Fz. coaxed so much variation out of what would seem like a limited palette. This photo makes me think about standing in the cold near some water, feeling that damp chill sink right into your bones. He must have been thinking about the water. I mean, that river is the star. What I love about photography - like painting - is how it can hold a moment, a feeling, a memory, or even an idea. There’s a moodiness to this photo that makes me feel melancholic, maybe even a little lonely. You see the water streaming, and then the boats, like a symbol for the passage of time and how everything is constantly changing. I can feel him searching. Fontein Fz. and all of us artists, we’re all in this big conversation. We borrow, we steal, we riff off each other. We make our own marks. We leave our own traces. And it’s never really done, is it? There's always more to say, more to see, more to feel.