Beladen zeilschip op een sloot, vermoedelijk in Noord-Holland c. 1900 - 1910

This photograph, by G. Hidderley, shows a loaded sailboat on a ditch, probably in the North of Holland. The craft are piled high with what appears to be coal or peat, materials vital for heating homes and fueling industry. The image is a window onto the material culture of the time. Consider the labor involved in extracting, transporting, and distributing these fuels. The photograph aestheticizes this hard work, but doesn't hide the importance of manual work, and the role of natural resources in shaping daily life. The very photograph itself, made through a complex chemical process, becomes evidence of industrialization. Paying attention to these materials and processes helps us understand the world that the photograph depicts, and the role that photography played in documenting and shaping perceptions of work, trade and industry. It challenges the notion that photography is separate from the crafts and trades that keep society running.