Venetië vanuit de lucht 1869

Editor: This is Carlo Ponti’s “Venetië vanuit de lucht,” or "Venice from the Air," taken around 1869. It’s a gelatin silver print that feels…suspended in time, like a memory fading at the edges. What draws your eye to this piece? Curator: Isn't it lovely? What gets me is how still everything seems. Even though it’s a bustling cityscape, there’s a profound sense of quiet, almost melancholy. The water's so smooth; do you get the feeling that the city itself is holding its breath? For me, Ponti’s capturing a Venice on the cusp of enormous change, both resisting and being pulled by the tide of modernity. Notice the details. What do they whisper to you? Editor: I notice the clarity with which he’s captured the buildings despite the soft overall mood! It’s quite incredible! Also the boats; their presence signifies the everyday lives continuing amidst the grand architecture, no? Curator: Exactly! And it’s this play between the grandeur and the quotidian that makes it sing to me. Look closely at the shadows… almost ghost-like and ephemeral, wouldn't you say? Editor: Mmh, very evocative indeed. It's easy to forget the photograph wasn't an instantaneous thing then, which adds to that spectral quality. Like he had to wait for the city to be perfectly still to capture its essence! I appreciate your perspective. Curator: It is a dance, isn’t it? It makes me think of those tiny moments, those snippets in our own memories that stick and shape who we are, moments we hold, just as Ponti held Venice in his camera.