Text and photos by Richard Dvořák (phpto)
To enlarge the images click on the icon at the right bottom.
These four images explore water as a threshold of perception. The canals of 's-Hertogenbosch do not simply mirror the city; they quietly recompose it, offering brief access to another order of reality—one that exists only when attention slows and the gaze becomes selective.
The first image was taken during a visit with artist friends in 's-Hertogenbosch on the longest day of the year in 2013, at 10:05 p.m.—about twenty minutes after sunset. There was still ample light during this phase of civil twilight, when the sky remains bright enough without artificial illumination.
In the lower right, a reflected human figure appears, reminiscent of the Boschian imagery that, even then, was beginning to surface around the city. These figures anticipated the major commemorations to come: in 2016, ’s-Hertogenbosch marked the 500-year anniversary of the death of Hieronymus Bosch with city-wide events, exhibitions, and the placement of figures inspired by his paintings throughout streets, squares, and even along the canals.
In this second image, made during a return visit in 2022, the same canals are revisited with a different attention. The focus shifts entirely to the ripples on the water’s surface. Even when the canal appears still, the slightest movement of air is enough to generate intricate, fleeting patterns, transforming an otherwise ordinary subject into something quietly dynamic. Near the bottom of the image, a faint reflection of the photographer emerges, gently reintroducing the human presence into the otherwise abstract play of water and light. The water acts as a veil, suggesting that perception of the self is always mediated, never direct.
In this image from the same series in 2022, the brick arches lose their weight and coherence, dissolving into undulating layers of light and shadow. The canal becomes a threshold where form yields to vibration. What appears is no longer architecture but a living pattern, as if the stone itself were remembering another state of being. The image opens a quiet, mystical space in which solidity gives way to resonance, and the visible hints at what lies beyond it.
In this final image from the 2022 series, reflections of trees and walls stretch into vertical streaks across the water, forming a gently shifting weave. The city releases its clear outlines and settles into pattern; details recede as a deeper essence emerges. Here, the canal becomes a quiet intermediary, translating solid structure into subtle, living vibration.
Seen together, these images suggest a simple insight: reality is selective. What we experience as “the world” depends on position, attention, and the quality of looking. Photography, in this sense, is less an act of recording objects than a way of disclosing relationships—between surface and depth, stability and flux, appearance and being.
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Note from the editor:
Richard took these fine photos in the city of 's-Hertogenbosch (or Den Bosch), the capital of the province of Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. 's-Hertogenbosch is wonderful city and whenever you come to the Netherlands you should consider to paying it a visit; its people are warm and hospitable, and the coffee they serve there is truly delicious!
Find out more about this gem of a city, click HERE