Egide Rombaux

Egide Rombaux carried a camera everywhere like a notebook—he snapped photos the way others doodle, always hunting for light instead of poses. He shot Brussels in the 1920s, but not the grand boulevards; instead he caught back alleys, grocery boys, and rain-slicked cobblestones where the city’s real pulse beat. A friend once pointed to a single frame on his contact sheet and said, “That’s Belgium in one glance,” and they were right—it’s the quiet corner of Rue du Midi at 7:15 a.m., before the trams roll in.