Twee foto's van Broek in Waterland en een optocht met koningin Wilhelmina, 1924 Possibly 1924 - 1925

Hendrik Herman van den Berg made these two photographs of Broek in Waterland and a parade with Queen Wilhelmina in 1924. I love how he’s captured these scenes, not just as documentation but as little studies in light and shadow. The soft grays and muted tones give the images a dreamy, almost painterly quality. It reminds me of the way artists like Gerhard Richter would use photographs as source material, transforming them into something more abstract and evocative. Look at the way the light reflects on the water in the top photograph, or how the shadows play across the buildings in the parade scene. It’s all about capturing a particular moment in time, but also about exploring the materiality of the medium itself. Like the way a painter might layer brushstrokes, Van den Berg is building up these images with subtle gradations of tone, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere. It makes you wonder about all the other photographs that were being taken at this time, and how each one offers its own unique perspective on the world.