Mensen op een weg langs de oever van de Sumida rivier in Uenopark in Tokyo, Japan before 1897

This photograph, "People on a Road Along the Bank of the Sumida River in Ueno Park in Tokyo, Japan," was taken by Kazumasa Ogawa. We don't have an exact date for the work, but Ogawa was active at the turn of the 20th century. Ogawa used a photographic printing process that adds color to black and white photographs, called collotype. The effect is subtle, but the photograph is hand-tinted to bring out the blush of the cherry blossoms, and the varied colors of the people's clothing. The scene shows a path bustling with figures, a temporary vendor stall, and a river. The image shows a modern, industrializing Japan, but the photograph itself embodies an interesting tension. It uses a cutting-edge technology of photographic reproduction but then relies on hand-applied color. The human touch and the machine-made thus come together in a single object. As you look, consider the labor involved in creating this image, and how the work embodies both mass production and craft sensibility.