Paard met wagen en fietser langs een vaart c. 1900 - 1930

This image, a 'Paard met wagen en fietser langs een vaart' was captured by Richard Tepe sometime in his lifetime, using I'm guessing, early photographic processes. The scene depicts a tranquil canal landscape; I'm drawn to the mirrored reflections of the bare trees on the water's surface. The palette is muted, sepia-toned, giving it a nostalgic feel and sense of history being captured. In the foreground, you can almost smell the earthy texture of the field, which is set against the stillness of the canal. The reflections are like ghostly apparitions; they are a world within a world. It’s as if the trees are reaching down to touch their own souls! This duality gives the image a layered feel, both in terms of depth and in terms of meaning. Tepe's work reminds me a little of the landscapes of the French photographer, Eugene Atget. Both artists found ways of finding the sublime in the everyday. Photography, like painting, is about finding ways to create new ways of experiencing the world.