Duinlandschap bij Haamstedee, Schouwen, Zeeland 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe made this photograph of a Dutch dune landscape sometime in his lifetime, which stretched from 1864 to 1952. What I like about this gelatin silver print is how Tepe, perhaps intuitively, used this new medium to echo something of the softness and starkness you get in a charcoal drawing. I imagine Tepe lugging his camera equipment out into the dunes, finding just the right spot to capture the undulating hills and distant horizon. There is a stillness to this image, despite the implied presence of wind and shifting sands, a quietness that feels very intimate. Look at the way the light rakes across the dunes, creating subtle gradations of tone. What this brings to mind is the work of other landscape artists like Jacob van Ruisdael and even Gerhard Richter, each seeking their own ways to capture the essence of nature. It’s like they’re all in conversation, across the centuries, about how we see and experience the world around us.