Gezicht op de groenteveiling in Zwijndrecht met op de achtergrond de Grote Kerk in Dordrecht c. 1903 - 1910

G. Hidderley made this image of a vegetable auction in Zwijndrecht, with the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht in the background, and what I see when I look at it is the artist’s dance with capturing a fleeting moment. The sepia tones create a nostalgic atmosphere, don't they? I'm thinking about how Hidderley composed the scene: the repetition of the baskets, the figures working, and then, that church in the distance. I wonder if he/she was thinking about the relationship between the mundane and the monumental, the individual and the collective, as they pressed the shutter. Or maybe they were just trying to document a typical day at the market! Photography is often about framing, and Hidderley’s choice to include the church might be a way of grounding the scene in something bigger. A nod to history, perhaps. It reminds me of how painters like Pieter Bruegel used to capture everyday life, embedding it with deeper cultural and symbolic meanings.