Upper Thames, Bablock Hythe, the last of the old Thames ferries before 1912

This photograph of the Upper Thames, Bablock Hythe, the last of the old Thames ferries, was taken by Henry W. Taunt. It’s monochrome, which gives it a timeless quality, but also a certain melancholy. I imagine Taunt setting up his camera, carefully framing the river and the ferry. What was he thinking about as he composed the shot? Was he aware that he was documenting a vanishing way of life? I can almost feel the stillness of the scene, the quiet lapping of water against the riverbank. The bare branches of the trees reach upwards, their forms echoing in the reflections on the water's surface. It makes me think about how painting can be a form of memory, a way of preserving moments in time. Taunt’s eye reminds me of other artists who have captured the essence of a place. All artists are, in their own way, engaged in a conversation across time. Painting is an embodied expression that embraces ambiguity, with multiple readings. It invites us to contemplate the ever-changing relationship between the past and the present.