Tropical Scenery, View of Limon Bay 1871

This photograph, "Tropical Scenery, View of Limon Bay" was taken by John Moran. As a photograph, this image's material presence is all too easy to overlook, but it shouldn't be. It’s not just a question of clicking a button. This would have been a laborious wet-collodion process, demanding expertise in chemistry and optics. Moran would have had to sensitize a glass plate moments before exposure, then develop it immediately after. Consider, too, the social context. The photograph romanticizes a Central American landscape, even as the United States was undertaking extensive imperialist projects there. This included construction of the Panama Canal, just a few miles from Limon Bay. The intense labor of that effort, much of it forced, contrasts sharply with the calm beauty of Moran’s image. So, next time you see a photograph, remember that it's not just a captured moment, but a carefully crafted object, imbued with the values and politics of its time.