Portret van een man met snor 1895 - 1908

This photograph, "Portret van een man met snor" or "Portrait of a man with a mustache," was snapped by E. v.d. Kerkhoff. There's a beautiful soft, faded quality to the print, all monochrome, that gives the image a sense of historical weight and quiet dignity. I can almost imagine Kerkhoff carefully arranging his subject, coaxing out the right expression, perhaps a hint of a smile playing around the edges of that impressive mustache. I wonder about the textures of the paper, the chemicals used to develop the image, the hands that touched it over the years. Thinking about Kerkhoff, I wonder if he saw himself as part of a lineage, a conversation with other photographers across time. Each image, a response to what came before, a gesture toward what might come next. What was the process of creating it like? It might have involved experimentation and improvisation, embracing the inherent ambiguities of photography. It's a reminder that art is an ongoing dialogue.