Portret van een meisje met een tennisracket c. 1907 - 1911

This photograph of a girl with a tennis racket was taken by Johann Herman Friedrich Labohm in Amsterdam, but it doesn't seem to have a date. It is mostly grey, fading in and out of focus. I love the way the image’s surface has aged, like a memory fading at the edges. Look at the girl's white dress – it's so bright it almost vibrates, but the details are soft, smudged even. The way the light catches the lace makes it look almost like brushstrokes. It really invites you to imagine the scene. And then there’s the tennis racket; well, it may be a tennis racket, it could be a parasol. This photograph reminds me of the work of Gertrude Käsebier, who also used soft focus to create dreamy, ethereal portraits of women and children. Both artists were interested in capturing the inner lives of their subjects. And that’s where the real meaning lies, isn't it?