Tokyo entrance to imperial palace. before 1908

This photograph, "Tokyo entrance to imperial palace", was taken by Geldolph Adriaan Kessler. The muted tones give the image a dreamlike quality. It’s like memory itself – faded, yet still present. The texture seems almost smooth, except where the light catches the stone of the bridge. It reminds me that even in photography, there's a process. I'm drawn to how the bridge acts as a connector, both physically and visually. It spans the space, linking the palace to the outside world, and in this picture, the foreground to the background. The bridge in this picture really anchors the eye, leading you into the depths of the frame, just like a brushstroke. This photograph reminds me of Atget, his quiet cityscapes, both capturing the essence of a place, and hinting at the unseen stories within. Like Atget, Kessler invites us to pause, to notice the subtle beauty in the everyday, and to consider the multiple stories a single image can contain.