David Ketel met de Koreaanse Prins Fridi 1952

David Ketel captured this photograph of himself with the Korean Prince Fridi sometime in the 20th Century. I like to imagine them out in the field, these two figures, the artist and the prince, finding themselves ankle deep in tiny white flowers. It's interesting when people put themselves in the picture. What was Ketel hoping to achieve? What does it mean to record an encounter? Perhaps, in that moment, it felt meaningful. Maybe he wanted to mark it, pin it down, and revisit it later. That red shirt is so bold against the landscape. I wonder if he picked it out specially? Photography is, after all, about choices: what to wear, how to stand, and how to frame the world. Each choice tells a story, even if we don't quite know what that story is. And isn't that just like painting?