Gezicht op een tingroeve met pomp- en transportinstallatie te Belinyu c. 1900 - 1920

This landscape photograph of a tin mine, made by an anonymous artist, probably used a large format camera, with a slow process. The image is printed in muted blacks, greys, and whites, and this limited palette really shapes how we feel about the scene. It’s a document, but one filled with atmosphere. It seems like the subject is the mine itself, with the machinery and tiered banks on display. The artist really captured the scale, from the architecture to the distant trees. Look at the texture of that thatched roof, or the way the light hits the flowing water. The composition, and the details held in the print, really do create a complete picture of a place. It reminds me a bit of some of the Bechers’ typologies. In both cases, the act of documentation becomes something poetic. It feels like the start of a long conversation about image making and the world around us.