Parade van soldaten uit India voor Victoria van het Verenigd Koninkrijk in Londen 1902

This sepia toned photograph was taken by Underwood & Underwood, possibly in 1902. It depicts Indian lancers parading before Queen Victoria in London. I look at this image, and I think about the person who stood there to take this shot, how they framed the scene, and waited, just so, for the right moment to snap the picture. It's a still moment, but full of potential energy, isn't it? The lancers all frozen in time, their spears held upright. You can almost feel the weight of them. I imagine them, all in uniform, marching in unison before the Queen. I wonder what they were thinking, what they felt as they paraded. The photograph has a tactile quality. I can almost feel the smoothness of the spears, and the weight of their clothing. Photography, much like painting, is an ongoing dialogue between artists, always sparking new ideas and perspectives. It shows us how to see and understand the world in different ways, and in this case, from over a century ago.