Gezicht op de uitmonding van de Oembilienrivier in het Singkarakmeer op Sumatra c. 1900 - 1920

This is "Gezicht op de uitmonding van de Oembilienrivier in het Singkarakmeer op Sumatra" by Christiaan Benjamin Nieuwenhuis, and I’m guessing it’s a photograph. I find myself thinking about what it was like for Nieuwenhuis to travel and take photographs in Sumatra. What kind of equipment did he have? How did he deal with the heat and humidity? What was his relationship with the local people? It feels distant from us now, the sepia tones lending the image a quality of faded nostalgia. I imagine Nieuwenhuis setting up his camera, carefully composing the shot to capture the vastness of the lake and the lushness of the jungle. Maybe he was thinking about how to represent the exotic beauty of Sumatra to a Western audience. Or perhaps he was simply trying to document the landscape for his own personal interest. Whatever his intentions, he has left us with this quiet image of the mouth of a Sumatran river as it flows into the lake, a perfect moment in time. It's like we're having a conversation with him across time.