Alphons Diepenbrock met echtgenoot en dochters c. 1895 - 1925

This is a photograph of Alphons Diepenbrock with his wife and daughters by W.G. Hondius van den Broek. I’m struck by the reversed tones of this image. I think about the technical process and the photographer setting up the shot and then waiting for it to be developed, but maybe this is a print of the negative. If you’ve ever worked in a dark room, you know the anticipation that comes with waiting to see what appears on the photographic paper. I wonder if the subjects of this picture knew what the image would look like? How do the photographic choices – the lighting, the composition, the tonal balance – impact how we read the subjects in the image? Do these choices intentionally obscure or reveal something about the Diepenbrock family? What can the visual language of photography tell us about the construction of reality? Artists continue to learn from each other. By experimenting with process, both the artist and the viewer can discover new ways of thinking about the world.