Nederlanders en de militairen bij Bebesan aan het meer Possibly 1912

This photograph of the Dutch and the military at Bebesan Lake, by an anonymous artist, well, it's a study in contrasts, isn't it? Look at the way the photographer uses the monochrome palette to flatten the landscape, almost abstracting it. Then, you have these figures, stark and present, lined up as if posing for a sports team photograph. The texture is so crisp; you can almost feel the earth beneath your feet. There is the dark line of the path that draws your eye right through the middle, like a compositional device. It reminds me a little of some of Gerhard Richter's early photo paintings, using a mundane, documentary style image to somehow question, or even undermine, the way we look at photographs as evidence of the truth. It’s funny how these things, seemingly simple, can hold so much complexity.