Twee onbekende vrouwen bij een watermolen before 1902

Léonard Misonne's "Two Unknown Women at a Watermill" feels like a dream captured in blue hues, a scene where reality blurs into the ethereal. I imagine Misonne, shrouded in a dark cloth over his head to see the image on the ground glass, carefully coaxing forth an image by patiently manipulating light and chemicals. It’s such a fascinating medium. The slight blurriness and ghostly quality make me think of the pre-dawn light when everything seems possible, or perhaps a memory fading at the edges. The composition is simple, yet there’s a palpable sense of peace. I wonder what Misonne thought about as he captured this moment. Was he longing for a simpler time, or maybe just trying to catch the beauty in the everyday? It reminds me of the work of other photographers of the time who were exploring the possibilities of the medium and I think of how the light could be manipulated in the darkroom. Photography, like painting, is a conversation between artists across time. Each new gesture builds upon the ones that came before, shaping how we see and experience the world. It’s all about embracing the ambiguity and uncertainty that allows for multiple interpretations, and that's what makes art so alive.