Rotsgroep met tulpen rond een woonhuis te Apeldoorn c. 1900 - 1940

Richard Tepe made this gelatin silver print of tulips around a house in Apeldoorn. The ochre colours create a beautiful sense of warmth. The light is soft, and the tulips are captured in a way that feels almost dreamlike. I imagine Tepe carefully composing the shot, waiting for the perfect moment to capture the scene. Maybe he was thinking about the transience of beauty, the way that flowers bloom and fade so quickly. Or maybe he was simply trying to capture the charm of a suburban garden in the Netherlands. The sepia tones add to this feeling. I think of other early photographers like Julia Margaret Cameron, who used photography to explore the possibilities of portraiture and storytelling. Tepe seems to be doing something similar here, using photography to capture a sense of time and place.