Japanse lelie before 1895

Kazumasa Ogawa captured this photograph of a Japanese lily using a glass plate and a camera. The photographic process itself, while seemingly straightforward, requires significant preparation: coating and sensitizing the plate, carefully composing the image, accurately calculating exposure time, and developing the negative. Ogawa likely used the collotype process, a printing technique that allows for a wide range of tones. This is achieved by coating a glass plate with a light-sensitive gelatin emulsion, exposing it to a negative, and then using it to print the image. The texture and depth we see in the lily's petals are a direct result of this method, which allows for subtle gradations of tone. Ogawa ran a photography studio with many employees, so this kind of photography was labor-intensive, and yet he brought a distinct aesthetic sensibility to his images, using a new technology in the service of art. Looking at the image this way, we can see how the worlds of science, labor, and art intertwine.