Gezicht in Interlaken, in de verte de Jungfrau 1892 - 1896

This is an anonymous photograph of Interlaken, with the Jungfrau in the distance. It is a gelatin silver print, a process which dominated photographic printing for over a century. Gelatin silver prints create images from a suspension of silver halide crystals in gelatin, coated on a paper or film support. When exposed to light, the silver halides are converted to metallic silver, forming a latent image that is then developed, fixed, washed, and dried to reveal the final print. What's particularly fascinating here is the social context of tourism intertwined with the industrialization of photography. The rise of tourism in the 19th century created a demand for images like this, mass-produced and sold as souvenirs. The gelatin silver process, with its relative ease of use and reproducibility, facilitated the mass production of photographs, turning the majestic Jungfrau and Interlaken into commodities. The image’s creation is thus inextricably linked to leisure, technology, and the burgeoning tourist industry, a product as much of its time as it is a depiction of a place.