Onderkomen van de Wehrmacht Possibly 1940 - 1945

These photographs of the Wehrmacht, or German army, pasted into an album, show scenes of military occupation. I'm always so curious about what it was like to make a painting. Or in this case, what it was like to take a photo. How much control did you have over the medium, and how much did the medium control you? I wonder about the person who put these photos in the album, what were they trying to say? There are so many possible readings of their work. You might even see the whole album, and all of the images within it, as one big composition. We can see the hand of the photographer in the way they’ve framed each shot. What it feels like to focus and wait. To then develop and print the photographs. Just like a painter, the photographer is capturing a moment in time and freezing it forever. Like a painter, the photographer of this image may have been inspired by other people. The history of photography is an ongoing conversation, with artists influencing each other across generations. Ultimately, there is no single, definitive meaning to art. The viewer always brings their own perspective and experiences to the work.