Le Moulin de Saint-Ouen Possibly 1845 - 1965

Hippolyte Bayard made Le Moulin de Saint-Ouen using a direct positive process, resulting in a sepia toned image of a water mill. It's like a building that has sprouted stilts and is standing in the water! You can tell Bayard was thinking about light here, and the effect of capturing it, as much as the subject of the mill itself. I imagine he was interested in the way the light reflected on the water, and how it made the building seem to float. It is interesting how he uses a new technology, photography, to capture such an old form of building. This makes me think about the work of other photographers such as Eugène Atget, who documented architecture in Paris. Artists are in an ongoing conversation across time, inspiring one another's creativity through these material gestures. And, like them, we look and imagine!