Haven van Patras before 1910

Frédéric Boissonnas made this photo, Haven van Patras, sometime between 1858 and 1946. It’s like a little window into another world, or maybe just another way of seeing ours. The photo is small, kind of grainy, and looks as though the photograph has been cropped from within the original publication, but that’s part of what makes it so interesting. There are two images, a seascape and a harbor scene, both capturing different aspects of Patras. The sea is all movement, little waves, while the harbor is more still, with the silhouettes of boats. It’s cool how he uses these different textures to give you a sense of place. I see the image as being about the everyday, the overlooked, but there’s a real beauty in that, right? Thinking about photographers who play with light and shadow, maybe someone like Alfred Stieglitz comes to mind. Both try to capture the feeling of a place, not just what it looks like. Art’s like a big conversation, everyone riffing off each other.