Oud bivak te Blangrakal 1903 - 1913

This old photograph, titled Oud bivak te Blangrakal, meaning Old Camp at Blangrakal, presents a landscape where the monochromatic tones feel like a study in light and shadow, an exercise in seeing. The texture of the image, grainy and somewhat blurred, gives the scene a dreamlike quality. This is where the physical, the materiality of the photograph itself, becomes crucial. The way the light catches on the rough surface of the print, almost like a charcoal drawing. Notice the subtle gradations of tone in the sky, the soft contrast between the thatched roofs of the buildings and the earth, it makes it seem as if the landscape is in constant flux. It reminds me a little of Edward Steichen’s pictorialist photographs from the early 20th century, with their emphasis on atmosphere and mood. Like Steichen, the anonymous artist here seems to be aiming for something more than just a representation of reality; they are creating an atmosphere, a feeling. And it is in this ambiguity, this openness to interpretation, that the photograph finds its power.