Gezicht op de Sint-Lambertuskerk te Huisseling 1911

This photograph of the Sint-Lambertuskerk in Huisseling was probably made with a large format camera, the kind that requires the photographer to hide under a dark cloth! The image is sepia-toned, creating a uniform tonality. I can imagine the photographer setting up their equipment, carefully composing the shot to capture the architectural grandeur of the church. The light is soft and diffused, and it seems like it was a cloudy day. The sepia tone gives the image a sense of nostalgia, as if the viewer is looking back in time, and that brickwork looks so solid and durable. It reminds me of old postcards; I am taken by how the history of a place can be condensed into one object. It’s not trying to tell a story, just be, in its own time, for the ages. I wonder who this anonymous photographer was and what other views they captured. It’s a conversation across time, isn’t it?