Drie foto's van ouders met een kind, mogelijk Pieter Dudok van Heel, en een gezicht op kasteel Middachten 1919

These three photographs of parents with a child, possibly Pieter Dudok van Heel, and a view of Middachten Castle were compiled by an anonymous artist at an unknown date. Looking at these images, I’m struck by how photography, especially early photography, flattens everything, transforming three-dimensional space into a study of light and dark. There’s a delicate balance between what’s revealed and what’s concealed. In the oval portrait, the figures are rendered with soft edges, giving them an almost ethereal quality. The light delicately illuminates the child’s face, but look closer and you can see the shadow, the slight blurring around the edges. It’s a reminder of photography’s inherent limitations, it's reliance on time and light, and its inability to fully capture the essence of a moment. There's something compelling about how this album juxtaposes the intimate domestic scene with the grand architectural view. Maybe this interplay is a reminder that art isn't about definitive statements, but about inviting us to question, explore, and ultimately, to see the world in new and unexpected ways.