Visit to an Oil Field in Purissima Hills, USA Possibly 1908

Geldolph Adriaan Kessler shot this photograph, Visit to an Oil Field in Purissima Hills, USA, with a camera, in the USA. The sepia tone gives a very particular lens to the scene, like a memory, something fading away or perhaps something yet to emerge, like a developing photograph. The textures in this photograph are so interesting, you have the rough ground, the solid square building, the smooth tanks, and in the distance the oil rigs puncturing the horizon. This all combines to create a very subtle emotional pull. Everything is solid, even the sky is very bright and lacks movement or dynamism. The car in the foreground brings a certain sense of modernity, but one that is somehow at odds with the landscape, a landscape that looks as though it will endure regardless. There's a dialogue here that speaks to the temporality of human endeavor, versus the expansiveness of nature. It reminds me of Bernd and Hilla Becher, who documented industrial structures with a similar sense of austere beauty. Ultimately, it’s about seeing beyond the surface, and finding layers of meaning in the everyday.