Untitled (Man standing on top of cliff) c. 1930s

This black and white photograph shows a man standing on top of a cliff, but we don’t know who made it or exactly when. The image seems to have emerged out of time, shifting between the past and present. I can almost sympathize with the photographer here – imagining what it might have been like to create such a scene. Was it a challenge to scale this epic landscape, and then to choose the perfect vantage point? Did the photographer capture the man by chance, or did they ask him to pose? I can only guess! What I love most about this image is the way it plays with perspective. The man looks so small against the enormity of the natural world, reminding us of our own insignificance in the grand scheme of things. It makes me wonder about the relationship between humanity and nature, and how artists are always responding to one another across time. Like, what would Caspar David Friedrich make of this photo?