Portret van een vrouw met opgestoken haar Possibly 1912 - 1919

This photograph of a woman with her hair up, was made by the American Automatic Photo Cy. sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. I wonder what it was like to stand in front of that lens, a total stranger capturing your likeness in an instant. She looks straight ahead, her expression unreadable. Was she nervous, excited, or just trying to hold still? Her dark dress and the severe hairstyle suggests a certain formality, a desire to present herself in a particular light. I bet she was trying to be serious, to be perceived as an adult, which makes me think about how we all perform for the camera, even back then. The sepia tone gives the photo a timeless quality, like it could have been taken yesterday or a hundred years ago. It makes me think about all the anonymous portraits taken in booths and studios, each one a tiny window into a life we’ll never know. They are the echoes of time, proof that the past is always present.