Gezicht op de Staatsspoorweg in het Geuldal bij Eys, Limburg before 1915

This photograph of the Staatsspoorweg in the Geuldal was made by an anonymous artist and the sepia tone gives it a real sense of history. The way the image is composed suggests the work of a painter, but the hand is not there, you know? The details in the image are so precise, you can almost feel the gravel under your feet on that winding path. The texture of the grass, the roughness of the hillside, it's all so tactile despite being a flat image. I like how this piece focuses on the paths that carve out the natural landscape, but still seem to meld seamlessly with it. It reminds me of some of Camille Corot's landscapes, which are similarly interested in the way nature and civilisation intersect, but this photograph is much more documentary. Still, there is a clear artistic vision at work here, composing the image, finding the light, and, for me, it is in the process of it being recorded, a feeling is conjured into being.