Portret van Gerrit Snijder, Aagje Noorder en hun kinderen Possibly 1910

This photograph of Gerrit Snijder, Aagje Noorder, and their children, taken by Hieronymus David Fraenkel in Amsterdam, feels like a very formal affair; a carefully arranged composition of solemn figures against a muted backdrop. As a painter, I find myself wondering what the photographer might have been thinking when they made it. I bet Fraenkel was thinking about Rembrandt! Or maybe Frans Hals. I imagine the studio bustling with activity as the family prepared for the portrait. It seems like a constructed reality, the subjects posed stiffly in their best clothes, trying to project an image of respectability and composure. Yet, despite the formality, I can sense a trace of humanity peeking through – a slight smile, a gaze directed off-camera. It’s this tension between the staged and the authentic that interests me, the way photography – just like painting – can both reveal and conceal, capture and create. Photography, like painting, is such a fascinating blend of control and chance, tradition and innovation, isn't it?