Straatgezicht in Berlijn met op de achtergrond een kerk 1903 - 1910

This small stereoscopic photograph shows a street scene in Berlin, with a church in the background, and was made by Geldolph Adriaan Kessler sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. The sepia tones give it an antique feel, and you can almost smell the past through the image. What strikes me is the texture, the roughness of the cobblestones, the softness of the figures. It's like a world rendered in shades of grey, where even the light seems muted. Look at the way the cobblestones stretch out before us. Each stone is individual, imperfect, worn by time and traffic, like the marks in a painting. The photograph has a painterly quality, a sense of atmosphere that reminds me of Whistler’s nocturnes. It's funny how a simple photograph can evoke so much. Think of Eugène Atget, capturing the streets of Paris with a similar eye for detail and atmosphere. Ultimately, art is about capturing a moment in time, a feeling, a way of seeing the world. And this little photograph does just that.