Jacob Evert Wesenhagen voor zijn dienstwoning in het kamp bij de Maäboberg 1905

Jacob Evert Wesenhagen made this photograph of his service house in the camp near the Maäbo mountain sometime around 1905. I’m struck by the way the light filters through the trees, it’s almost like a painting. There’s a softness to the image, a hazy quality that makes you feel like you’re stepping into a dream. The textures are incredible, too. You can almost feel the rough wood of the house, the dampness of the ground. I keep coming back to the figure standing in front of the house, though. He’s so still, so composed, that he almost blends into the background, yet he’s the focal point. It reminds me a little of Edward Hopper, the way he captures a sense of isolation and stillness in his paintings. And like Hopper, Wesenhagen invites us to project our own stories and emotions onto the scene, to find our own meaning in the silence and ambiguity.