Portret van een waterdrager in Sakka, blootsvoets met stok before 1905

This evocative photograph, attributed to the Khardiache Frères, captures a water carrier in Sakka, his bare feet firmly planted on the earth, a staff providing additional support. I imagine the photographer, perhaps driven by a sense of curiosity, carefully framing this moment. What was it like to consider the tones and light, to develop the image? I think about the surface of the print itself and the physical presence of this object and the choices the photographer made in capturing this person and place. The photographer shows an incredible ability to translate a three-dimensional form onto a two-dimensional surface, creating the illusion of depth. Like the image itself, this figure seems to be in dialogue with the landscapes in which they live. The earth is their foundation, and the photographic image is what remains.