Verblijf in Shiraz Possibly 1925

This photograph, "Verblijf in Shiraz," was taken by A.G.A. van Eelde, and I'm immediately drawn to the texture here. There's such a contrast between the rough, organic quality of the thatched roofs and the flat, almost brutal smoothness of the building's walls. Look at the ground, too, that expanse of tiny pebbles stretching out to meet us. It makes me think about the layers of time and history embedded in this place. The way the light falls across the scene, it almost flattens everything, like a memory fading at the edges. And those cars parked in front of the building! They feel like such a strange, anachronistic presence, adding another layer of meaning to the image. You think about Atget and his haunting photos of Paris, this has some of that same stillness and sense of mystery, as if the photograph is whispering secrets just beyond our grasp.