Gezicht op een baai en oevers van (vermoedelijk) Sydney c. 1890 - 1910

Charles Bayliss captured this albumen print of what is believed to be Sydney harbor sometime in the late 19th century. The composition invites us into the scene through a natural frame of trees, leading our eye across the still water to the distant shore. Bayliss masterfully uses tonal variations to articulate depth and space. Notice the way the light reflects off the water, creating horizontal bands that emphasize the flatness of the photographic paper. The placement of the sailboats disrupts this flatness, introducing vertical lines and a sense of spatial recession. These elements function as signifiers of human presence within the landscape. The photograph is not merely a record of a place, but a carefully constructed image that plays with perception and representation. It prompts us to consider how photography mediates our understanding of space, transforming a three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional plane.