Broxbourne Church c. 1880s

Peter Henry Emerson captured "Broxbourne Church" with a platinum print, a process he favored for its tonal range. Emerson, a British photographer, challenged the prevailing aesthetic of overly-stylized photography by advocating for "naturalistic photography," which aimed to depict rural life authentically. This image offers a seemingly tranquil scene: a lone figure fishing, the gentle reflections on the water, and the stoic presence of the church. But Emerson's work was made at a time of great social change in England. Industrialization was drawing people away from the countryside. This photograph becomes an elegy for a disappearing way of life. Emerson's vision of an untouched rural idyll is also complicated by class. Who had the leisure to fish? Whose labor sustained the church? His work invites us to consider the complex layers of history, labor, and representation embedded within seemingly simple scenes. It asks us to consider what we long for when we look at the past.