The rising sun Possibly 1908

Editor: Here we have Geldolph Adriaan Kessler's photograph, "The Rising Sun," potentially from 1908. It's a gelatin silver print currently residing here at the Rijksmuseum, and my initial thought is...there's a real formality here. What stories do you think these fellas could tell? Curator: Well, darling, looking at these gents all lined up on what appears to be a ship’s deck, I can almost smell the salty air. You see the angle of light, how it delicately carves out each face? There's a sense of forward momentum—an allegory to modernity perhaps? Don't you think? They are buttoned up, looking very dapper for travel. Editor: You're right, they are all very neatly presented. But this angle…I'm a bit confused. The camera seems almost like a secret observer? How intentional do you think that may have been? Curator: Precisely! That's what sings to me. Consider the time. Photography was both a scientific marvel and artistic experiment. Kessler isn't just snapping a picture; he is choosing to depict these men at eye level as if we’re voyaging alongside them, capturing them as equals but slightly from below. Almost conspiratorial, eh? There's something rather intriguing about these ordinary-extraordinary men at this dawn of the modern era, don't you think? Editor: It does shift the tone. It's like we are not separate from their journey but are being welcomed on deck. I love the "dawn of the modern era" idea! Curator: It's a little visual poem, dear, don’t you think? Editor: Definitely a poem. Maybe a haiku of the high seas. Thank you so much! Curator: My pleasure, my bright spark! A sea of discoveries, indeed!