De fontein bij het verblijf van de stedehouder van Karangasem Gusti Bagur 1900 - 1915

This photograph of a fountain near the residence of Gusti Bagur in Karangasem was taken by Johanna Hermina Marmelstein. It's hard to know exactly when, but it captures a way of life in a moment of time. What I love about photography is its ability to freeze the world, but this one almost melts before your eyes. The grays and browns blend, creating soft edges everywhere. Look at the lower left, the way the wild grass and the dirt path kind of bleed together. The texture is everything. The light is flat, almost hazy, giving it a dreamy quality. See the man perched on the wall, and the other figure off to the right, both looking so casual, like they're just part of the landscape. There is nothing staged about the image, it speaks to me of a particular moment in time that will never be exactly replicated. It reminds me a bit of some of the early modernist photographers, like Alfred Stieglitz, who were trying to capture the essence of a place and time. It is almost impossible not to find beauty in the imperfection, something which always keeps me interested.