Interieur van de Sint-Willibrorduskerk te Diessen 1910

This photograph, “Interior of the Sint-Willibrorduskerk in Diessen” by an anonymous photographer, probably taken with a large format camera, shows us what the church looked like at that time. Looking at this image, I find myself wondering, what was it like to be the photographer setting up their shot, and how would the people in it have reacted? The light, muted and gray, gives a specific mood to the building, as if it has been frozen in time. I’m also thinking about how the photographer chose their composition, what to leave in, what to leave out. I wonder if other photographers were working in similar styles at the time. The whole history of photography is one long conversation between artists, each building on and responding to the work of those who came before. Photography, like painting, is embodied expression. When we look at a picture, we bring our own experiences and feelings to it, finding new meanings and possibilities within the image.