Gedeelte van Kasteel Onsenoort, thans klooster, te Nieuwkuijk 1904

This photograph of Kasteel Onsenoort in Nieuwkuijk—now a monastery—was made by an anonymous photographer. The sepia tone gives it a dreamlike quality, don’t you think? I imagine the photographer setting up their equipment, adjusting the focus, and waiting for the perfect light. It makes you wonder what they were thinking as they framed this shot, right? Were they interested in the architecture, or were they more interested in the way the light hit the building? The imperfections—scratches and fading—only add to its charm, giving it a sense of history and time passing. I see a connection between this piece and other architectural studies. Maybe the photographer was inspired by the way buildings tell stories? It makes me consider photography and painting as forms of embodied expression, both embracing the ambiguous and allowing for multiple interpretations.