Toren van het stadhuis van Kampen 1904

This image is a historical photograph of the tower of the town hall of Kampen, made by an anonymous artist. The limited tonal range almost gives it the appearance of a drawing, with the details emerging from the subdued lighting and the granular texture. I imagine the photographer carefully framing the shot, perhaps thinking about the relationships between architectural form and the play of light, shadow, and texture. It reminds me a little of the precision of Bernd and Hilla Becher, but with a more romantic sensibility. There’s a real tenderness in the way the photographer captures the tower, and I find myself thinking about the legacy of this architectural structure, of all the people who have walked past it, lived in its shadow, or perhaps even climbed to the top. I wonder if, like me, they took the time to observe the world from a different perspective.