Portret van een vader met zijn twee zoons 1908

E. ten Cate gave us this evocative photograph, "Portrait of a Father with his Two Sons" but when, we can’t be sure. There’s a sense of intimacy here, a closeness, that time and distance can’t quite erase. I can imagine Ten Cate wanting to capture a moment of everyday life. It’s a casual scene: a father leaning over a pram, with his two sons, one in the pram and one in front of it. The muted tones and soft focus give the whole image a feeling of nostalgia. What was it like to be Ten Cate, working with the limited photographic technology of the time? Did he experiment with different exposures to get that dreamy, almost blurred effect? What kind of relationship did he have with the subjects? Did he ask the father and sons to pose, or did he capture them in a spontaneous moment? It makes me think about how, even in this world of hyper-clear digital imagery, there's still room for blur, for the kind of mystery that invites us to linger.