New Hinksey, from Jacob's Ladder before 1912

This image of New Hinksey, taken from Jacob's Ladder, was captured by Henry W. Taunt sometime during his career as a local photographer in Oxfordshire. You can see the village laid out, captured in tones of grey, sitting quietly in the landscape. I wonder what Taunt was thinking when he took this photo, the same as what I think when I paint: How do I show what I see? He could have been thinking about the light, how it wraps around the buildings, the angles it creates. The way that photography freezes a moment in time is something else. Does it allow us to see the past in a way we wouldn't otherwise be able to? Or does it just give us another version, a kind of grey-scale painting of its own accord? Thinking about the layers of time and place in this image, I imagine Taunt walking along the path, setting up his camera, and capturing this view. It is as if he were having a conversation with the landscape, trying to capture the essence of a place that is both familiar and ever-changing.