Drie personen in een bocht van de weg op de Col de la Croix Haute in de Dauphiné 1903

This small photograph by Delizy captures a winter scene in the French Alps. It’s hard to tell exactly when it was made because the light is so flat, the weather so bleak. I can imagine Delizy, probably lugging a large format camera, setting up this shot. He or she finds a vantage point that creates strong diagonal lines made by the road which curves its way up the mountain. I wonder, why these figures? Are they part of the scene, or perhaps friends and family? I picture the artist waiting for them to be still enough to capture. Look at the tonality, it’s so soft, from creamy whites to warm grays, full of atmosphere. The snow falls so uniformly, like a veil. The composition makes me think of the way landscape painters like Courbet framed similar scenes. Photography and painting have always influenced each other, artists seeing what’s possible through different mediums, always in conversation.