Moskee in de Padangse Bovenlanden op Sumatra c. 1900 - 1920

This photograph of a mosque in Sumatra was taken by Christiaan Benjamin Nieuwenhuis sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Look at the grainy texture, like it's made of a million tiny dots, all crowded together. It’s pretty sepia, and it gives me that feeling of looking into the past. I wonder what it was like for Nieuwenhuis to lug his camera equipment through those landscapes. I imagine him setting up his shot, carefully framing the mosque against the backdrop of the Padang Highlands. He's probably thinking about light, and composition, and how to capture the essence of this place. He must have stood there patiently, watching and waiting for the right moment, as the palms sway in the breeze. In his wider practice, he was interested in botany. Photography, like painting, is about seeing, feeling, and trying to make sense of the world. It's about slowing down and really looking and thinking about your place in it. We're all in conversation with each other.