Brandspuithuis te IJsselstein 1910

This photograph, Brandspuithuis te IJsselstein, was taken by an anonymous photographer around 1910 and it captures a fire station. The sepia tones lend a sense of faded memory, and for me, the image is less about the fire station itself and more about the textures, the way light plays on brick and wood. Notice the large doors of the firehouse, they're not perfectly smooth but worn, as if each groove tells a story of hasty openings and closings. Then, look at the brickwork, it's got this irregular pattern, the subtle variations that speak of a hand-laid process. I think the beauty here lies in the imperfections, and that’s why I love this image so much. It reminds me of a work by Bernd and Hilla Becher. Their photographs of industrial structures share a similar interest in the mundane. Both embrace a kind of quiet observation, finding beauty in the architecture of everyday life. Ultimately, both artists celebrate a world of infinite variety.