Oude raadhuis van Noordwijk-Binnen 1890 - 1920

This photo of Oude Raadhuis van Noordwijk-Binnen shows some sort of institutional building in muted tones. I wonder what camera they used and what they were thinking as they chose their viewpoint. There's a beautiful softness to this image, and it's easy to get lost in the grays and browns. I can imagine the photographer carefully composing the shot, thinking about how to balance the light and shadow, how to capture the essence of this building. Was the photographer thinking about light? About geometry? About history? It's not sharp like modern photos, and that's OK. It gives the building character. You see similar approaches in the work of Eugène Atget. The way he used light and shadow to create depth and texture is a touchstone for so many photographers. Anyway, like many artists, this photographer is part of a bigger tradition of seeing and interpreting the world through images.