Gezicht op Istanbul met centraal het Paleis van de Sultan aan de Bosporus before 1914

This photograph of Istanbul with the Sultan's Palace, was made by Sébah & Joaillier. It’s all in these muted browns and tans, a kind of sepia dream. You can almost feel the city in the making, shifting into focus through trial, error, and intuition. The photographers must have had to consider the light, the timing and the framing, balancing the buildings with the boats on the Bosphorus. What was it like for them, setting up their equipment, waiting for the right moment? Look at how the mosques punctuate the horizon, their minarets like delicate needles. I bet Sébah & Joaillier were in dialogue with other photographers, maybe painters too, exchanging ideas about how to capture a place, a feeling. It reminds us that art is just one big, ongoing conversation. We're all just riffing off each other, trying to make sense of the world in our own way. It’s ambiguous and uncertain, allowing for multiple interpretations.