Besneeuwd berglandschap, Cirque de Gavarnie, Pyreneeën, Frankrijk 1902

This is a black and white photograph of the Cirque de Gavarnie in the Pyrenees, taken by Henry Pauw van Wieldrecht. I look at this image and wonder about the moment when the shutter snapped, when this scene, the snow and water, were forever captured. I can almost feel the crisp air and the stillness of the mountains surrounding me. The composition is pretty straightforward, documentary even. I think about how photography, like painting, is a way of seeing and knowing. What do you think Van Wieldrecht was thinking about when he was creating this image? Was he thinking about the sublime or maybe about how humans fit into that landscape? Landscape photography is never really about nature, it's about us, isn't it? It's about how we see and interpret the world around us. And I wonder, how will the people of the future interpret this image? How will they understand our relationship to nature? I guess that is why we keep making art—we're in a constant state of conversation with each other and the future.