Textielmarkt aan een rivier 1903 - 1907

This photograph, titled Textielmarkt aan een rivier, was taken by an anonymous photographer. In this captured moment we can see a bustling textile market by a river—a convergence of people, goods, and nature. You can almost feel the photographer positioning themselves to find the right angle, the right composition, through the camera lens. I wonder what it might have been like, standing there, the light filtering through the trees, the murmur of the crowd, the scent of the river, the colors of the fabrics... I imagine the photographer seeking a kind of truth, to distill the chaos into a single frame, to freeze the fleeting moment. Photography is a fascinating medium because, much like painting, it offers its own way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world. A painter, a photographer, we’re all just trying to make sense of the mess, aren’t we? We strive to leave behind traces, marks of where we’ve been, what we’ve seen, and what we’ve felt.