Portret van een onbekende vrouw 1900 - 1924

This photo, "Portret van een onbekende vrouw" was made by Gerard Ch. Smeekes & Van Schaik and captures a face from out of the past. I can feel the texture of the paper and chemicals meeting, the development of the picture, like the development of a memory. I imagine the artist, fiddling with his camera and equipment. It’s like a dance, isn’t it? A conversation between the photographer and the sitter. What do you say to someone you don’t know who you are about to immortalize? What was she thinking, sitting there, looking into the lens? There’s something about the way her face is illuminated. You know, lighting is everything. Think about Rembrandt – how he plays with dark and light, shadow and luminosity, to create an atmosphere. I wonder if this photographer studied those paintings too. I wonder if they saw themselves as part of that lineage. Photography is just another way of painting, really. Both capture and then interpret the world for us to see.