Vrijstaande huizen aan het water in Edam, op de achtergrond de Speeltoren 1904

James Higson made this photograph of houses by the water in Edam, a small town in the Netherlands, sometime between when he was born and when he died. I wonder, was Higson standing on a bridge when he took it? Or did he take it from a boat? I bet he had to consider the light a lot, and wait for the right moment. To get the reflection just so. Did he consider the reflection part of the composition from the start, I wonder, or was that a happy accident? Did he crop the image himself? I like the people standing on the little dock. It gives you a sense of everyday life. The ordinariness of the scene. It feels very unposed. It suggests how Higson saw the world and maybe how he wanted us to see it too. A natural shot of a Dutch town and the people who lived there. Artists, you know, we're always talking to one another across time. Higson is speaking to us now, and we're listening.