Versailles, Bosquet de la Colonnade 1904

Atget captured this photo of the Bosquet de la Colonnade at Versailles, using his large format camera, sometime between the late 1800s and early 1900s. You know, I wonder what it was like for him, lugging his equipment around the palace grounds, trying to capture the essence of these monumental spaces. The Colonnade itself is such a theatrical structure, isn't it? A stage set for some grand, yet absent performance. And then Atget frames it so that you can sense his fascination with the way the light falls, and the textures of the stone and foliage, like he's saying, "Look at this amazing place that was once at the heart of everything." Atget, like a lot of photographers, was interested in the details of the real world. He looked for the beauty in ordinary things, and in so doing, he joins a bigger conversation among artists of all kinds who are trying to make sense of the world, one image at a time.