Noordzijde van het koor van de Oude kerk te Naaldwijk 1910

This is "Noordzijde van het koor van de Oude kerk te Naaldwijk," a photograph from May 1910, taken by an anonymous photographer. Look at the range of grays here! It's almost a study in how light and shadow can sculpt forms. The bricks of the church are laid out with such care, and the photographer obviously worked carefully, too. What I notice is the texture. You can almost feel the roughness of the brick, the smoothness of the glass in the windows. The way the light hits the building, creating these subtle gradations, is almost painterly. It makes me think about how we build, how we create these structures that stand the test of time. It reminds me a bit of some of the architectural studies done by Bernd and Hilla Becher. They were always interested in documenting these kinds of industrial structures. This, though, is a bit more romantic. A bit more about the feeling of the place, than just the facts. It’s a quiet conversation across time, isn’t it?