Gezicht op de Appeldijk te Gorinchem c. 1900 - 1910

G. Hidderley made this photograph, "Gezicht op de Appeldijk te Gorinchem", with light and shadow. It's like Hidderley is playing with the grays, pulling us into this quiet street scene. Check out how the light dapples the cobblestones. It’s soft, almost blurring the edges of things. Look at that lone figure walking away – they become part of the pattern, a shadow among shadows. It’s not about sharp details here, it's more like feeling the mood of the place, the way the light changes on a summer afternoon. It makes me think of the way artists like Gerhard Richter play with focus. He is known for taking photographic images and blurring them in his paintings. It asks, what do we really see, and what do we just think we see? What are we losing, and what are we gaining?