Tinmijn te Soengeiliat 1900 - 1922

Robert Julius Boers made this photograph of a tin mine in Soengeiliat. It’s a stereo card, so originally intended to be seen with a special viewer that creates a 3D effect, kind of like those old View-Masters. You know, I wonder what it was like for Boers, lugging his camera equipment out to a place like this? The sepia tones give it a kind of dreamy, faraway feeling, but the reality must have been hot, dirty work for everyone involved. I see the figures in the image, and I think about the kind of labor they are doing. I'm sure it was really tough. I think it's interesting how the black and white gives the scene an abstract quality, reducing it to its basic components, while the double vision effect gives the impression of greater depth and complexity. Whether painting or photography, there's always the exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. We keep making marks.