Vulkanen (waaronder de Bromo) in het Tenggergebergte, Java, Nederlands-Indië c. 1895 - 1915

This is a vintage photograph by Onnes Kurkdjian of volcanoes amidst the Tengger Mountains in Java. I can imagine the artist, camera in tow, making their way up the mountain in the dark hours before dawn. There’s so much atmospheric depth, the various peaks and clouds give way to a seemingly infinite distance. Photography, like painting, has this special ability to mimic nature. And yet, they each create their own way of seeing. What was it like to be Kurkdjian, lugging around all that equipment? I wonder if he was thinking about how volcanoes were understood at the time? Did he have any sense of the geological processes that formed these magnificent structures? I see his journey and feel a kindred spirit in his process of discovery. We artists are all in this together.