Houtstapel bij papierfabriek in Grand Mère, bij Montréal, Canada 1936

This photograph was taken by Wouter Cool, sometime in the first half of the twentieth century; it shows a woodpile at a paper factory in Grand Mère, near Montréal, Canada. The photograph has a bleak, almost desolate feeling, doesn’t it? I wonder what Cool thought about this landscape? The massive pile of logs, waiting to be pulped into paper. It's a simple subject, but there’s a stark contrast between the organic form of the woodpile and the industrial architecture looming above it. It reminds me of some of the photographers from the Dusseldorf School—their deadpan, objective style. I can imagine Cool carefully framing the scene, trying to find some kind of order in this chaotic landscape. You know, how to balance the massive form of the woodpile with the geometry of the bridge. Did he think about the light? It's all quite gray. I wonder if he waited for a specific moment to capture this image, or if it was just another day at the paper factory?